Shift shaft seal replacement

[1968flareside]

I have looked through my Haynes and Detroit Steel manuals on changing this. Neither give any details. I've had a couple friends say it's easy, but then they can't describe to me how to do it. I would like to tackle this tonight or tomorrow. Thanks in advance. BTW it's a 70's era C4 auto tranny.

Bryan

[FORDification]

Bryan: So how did this turn out? Did you get the seal replaced?

[1968flareside]

No, not yet. I'm working 6 days a week, 10 hrs a day. So, Saturdays are my only day off. Had some yard work to do that I promised to the wife and also the ever important family time. Hopefully, I can get to this soon. I have so many little jobs to do in order to get it running. I have to have it driveable at least to keep it from getting ticketed or towed. I'm in the final process of a new job which will require me to move. So I'll probably be in an apartment for a year or so.

[1968flareside]

Keith, got the answer from that site you posted. Here goes....

"You have to remove the valve body too. Only the bolts with 3/8 hex.
Then remove the passing gear lever so you can get a 7/8 box wrench over it inside the case, to remove the shifter nut. Make sure you get the valve body shifter aligned with the manual linkage in the case. It's not hard to do."

Thanks! I hope this will help someone else in the future!!!!

[1968flareside]

OK. I got the seal replaced today. It was pretty painless.

I first dropped the driveshaft since I had a leaking rear tranny seal as well. That drained off some of the fluid.

Next I loosened the pan bolts and started that draining process.

3rd I removed all of the 3/8" sized bolts from the valve body.

4th the valve body came right off. Make sure you have a hold of it!!!!!

5th disconnect the kickdown linkage from your cable/arm. That lets the internal piece move out of the way to get the next fastener loosened.

6th use a 7/8" open end wrench to loosen the nut.

7th the shifter arm and kickdown arm separated from the case as well as the internal arm that appears to be part of the shifter.

I then was able to push the seal out with a finger. It was really worn out. The new one pushed in much more snugly.

Assembly isn't too bad. I think the hardest thing was to get that internal shift arm lined up. It will only go in one way.

I hope no one else has this problem in the future. But, if you do, drop me a line. I'll be glad to help!!!!

Obviously I'm no tranny guy. But, I found this fairly easy to do.

Bryan

[willowbilly3]

Bryan, thanks for the step by step. Even I have never done one of thse before and was always a little intimidated by the insides of an automatic tranny. I think I lost a ball or something once when I was changing the filter in a C4 and then had to figure out where it came from.

[1968flareside]

What's this? Something Willow hasn't done? I'm having a heart attack!!! Just kidding!!! Glad to help!

I was pretty intimidated too. It would probably take me a 1/4 of the time if I ever have to do it again. I really took my time and made mental notes of how the parts were placed. Again, it really wasn't bad at all.