BALL JOINT, OIL SLICK

THIS TIME I ONLY MEANT TO CHANGE THE BALL JOINT AND ADJUST THE TRANSMISSION, BUT I HAD TO GET CURIOUS....

Up on the lift and take out the ball joint on the driver's side. A ball joint is like the femur or shoulder ball and socket joint, made so the limb can swivel about: in this case the A-frame only up and down at the chassis, but the outboard ball joint does that and allows the wheel to steer side to side. I used a tool that looks like a C-clamp with some hollow spacers which can be arranged to force out the ball joint, then, in another arrangement, can press a new one in. I painted the parts that were rusty and put the spindle and disc brake and tie rod end, another form of ball joint, all back in a very sanitary looking package.

Now, to adjust an automatic transmission there are a couple of threaded rods like screws that are each locked in place by a nut on the side of the transmission. The idea is to loosen the nut on the 3-4 gear band adjuster and tighten the adjuster rod with a torque wrench to 10 foot-pounds, then turn it back exactly 2 turns and retighten the locknut. Repeat the steps for the overdrive band.

But I had the idea that I would remove the adjuster to see what the other end looked like. As it backed out I hear a klunk! inside the tranmission. There are eighteen bolts holding on the bottom pan, and about a gallon and a half of oil to remove in order to see what I had dropped inside. There are no drain plugs on most automatic transmissions, so the oil just pours around the loosened pan bolts. That wastes oil and makes a big mess. I drilled a small hole in the front corner of the pan and drained it into a clean pan. Then the 18 pan screws came out and I carefully removed the pan and gasket and cleaned them.

I found a bolt, 6mm, about 3/4 inch long, and a nut with a washer side on it, flat. I got a bolt to fit, then pulled the nut through the hole and a deep socket so that it deformed the pan into the hex nut shape. With the washer side out, then, I soldered it into the pan like a drain-hole. With a plastic washer and a bolt, I had a nice drain. All I had to do was put it back and fill the oil up. It worked just fine.

Only took about four hours.

-30-bobby