My 2004 Chevy Silverado pickup with a 4L60E transmission developed a leak from the trans pan gasket a while back, so since the weather was decent, considering the season, I decided to tackle it. I bought a filter and gasket for a flat, shallow pan, and 5 quarts of trans fluid, but after getting the front of the truck high enough to crawl underneath, realized it had the stepped, deep pan. Back to the parts store to get the correct filter...
I watched several youtube videos, and 3 of them said to remove the shifter cable, only to find that the bracket that anchored the cable was in the way, not the cable itself. Two of them bent the bracket out of the way, but all I had to do was loosen the two torx T-40 screws holding the bracket, after another trip to the store to get a set of torx drivers.
The next hangup was the exhaust cross-over pipe that ran underneath the rear of the pan: the pan hit the pipe and couldn't be removed. It seems it clears with a 4.3L 6 cylinder engine, but not with a 4.8L V8. One guy removed the 3 nuts holding the Y-pipe to the passenger side exhaust manifold, then pried the pipe down to get clearance while his helper removed the pan while also bending the bracket out of the way. After applying penetrating oil and applying heat with my brand new BernzOmatic 8000 push-button ignition torch, "Most powerful, up to 65% more BTU", I was able to get the nuts loose.
The next day, my neighbor across the street, Clare came over to help, and suggested I try to loosen the three nuts on the driver side manifold instead of using brute force to flex the exhaust pipe. I hosed the nuts down with Liquid wrench, then got things hot with the new torch, then sprayed on more Liquid wrench while still hot. With a swivel on the 15mm deep socket and about 20 inches of extensions, I was able to hold the socket in place with the breaker bar pointing out from under the driver side, where Clare slid a 3 foot cheater pipe over the breaker bar. The nuts broke loose with a sharp POP, but to my relief nothing broke. The studs were long enough that I only had to back them off a bit to allow the pipe to drop.
I was so relieved, I then went next door to Bill's house, where he and Clare have been doing a frame-off restoration on a C3 Corvette. When removing the body from the frame, three 7/16 bolts were frozen and broke off. These bolts went into threaded square plates that were held captive on the top of the frame, and they couldn't figure out what to do. I did the penetrating oil and torch thing (I LOVE this new torch! The push button feature is great, and true to their word it throws out a LOT of heat), then welded nuts onto the broken ends of the bolts. Sprayed some more oil at the joint, and with a bit of back and forth motion, all three bolts came out, leaving the threads in the nut plates intact.
After two back-to-back successes, I took a lunch break: a green chili and cheeze tamale, that I got from neighbor Mike, who lives across the street from Bill.
After lunch, I pulled the pan, spilling a bunch of fluid, even after pumping a gallon out, then spilled a bit more when I pulled the filter off. That stuff tastes nasty! Clare came back over and helped by fitting the gasket to the already cleaned pan with the bolts through the holes, and handing me the filter and pan under the truck. With the pan buttoned up I called it a day, as it was getting dark.
The next day, I was sore all over, so I took the day off, then Tuesday I tightened the shift cable bracket bolts, and the exhaust nuts, after applying anti-seize compound, and poured in 5 quarts of fluid. Wednesday, I drove the truck to get it warmed up and checked the fluid level, and found it to be low, so went back to the parts store again and bought 2 more quarts, and dumped all but 10 ounces in, which brought the level up to the proper amount.
