The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Hi Mopar fans; I am a newbie to this board, but not to Mopars, I have a 70 Challenger RT/SE 383 auto. the shift lever shaft seal is leaking pretty bad on my 727 i was wondering if anyone has a technique for replacing this seal without dropping the tranny i don't have headers so i can drop the driver side pipe & the linkage out of the way getting the new one in seems the most difficult not much clearance to the floor board, any ideas. Thanks

Brake ON and shifter in Neutral.

Remove the levers from the shift lever/kickdown shaft.

Drain the fluid and remove the pan.

Drop the valve body down.
You don't have to disengage the park lever if you don't want to. As long as the valve body comes down enough to give you access to the underside of the seal.

Tap the seal out from underneath and clean where the seal sits very carefully. Also make sure the shifter shaft on the valve body is clean and smooth.

The new seal MUST go in square. So either tap it in very very carefully from above (tricky but possible) OR make yourself some sort of puller from a bolt and washers to pull the seal into place (safer bet).

Lubricate the seal and the shifter shaft well and be careful not to damage the seal as you put the valve body back up.

Dave-r, Thank you, it looks like a bigger job than i expected , but i like your idea using a bolt & washer, i just hate to drop the oil & valve body really messy job, but the leak has to be fixed. thanks again for your tip.

Fortunately I've not been having troubble with a leak like the one you describe,...but I have the following comment.....

From what I've heard (PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG), the correct oil level in the tranny is kind of "at the split" for the oilpan.....

If this is true, I can't see that a BAD leak should occur where you describe......

Comments anyone ???

JB

Wrong. It is a little above that line and if that seal leaks you loose a lot of fluid.

Dave, this is the way i replaced that shift shaft seal, i removed the linkage from the shaft, dropped the header pipe from the exhaust manifold to have more room to work, then proceeded to pry the seal out with a hardened scribe bieng careful to stay away from the surface of the shaft, installed the new seal with a 15/16" socket on the seal & a large C clamp. Place one end on the socket & the screw end against the bottom of the oil pan using a piece of 1/8" steel to protect the pan. No more leak. :D

Thanks for the feedback.

I tried picking mine out and got very frustrated trying.

Because I had already installed a pan drain plug it was easier for me to just drain the fluid and drop the valve body. The seal just whacked out from the underside with two taps.

Hey, i'm doing mine right now! It was leaking badly. I made it much easier to get to the seal (but more setup time) by holding the Ext housing up with a jack and removing the tailshaft, removing the trans X member, removing distributor cap (important!) and letting the trans swing down. Also have to remove all the shifter linkages and shift/kickdown lever. However i think the strong C clamp idea is the best. I tried using a sliding clamp but it was not strong enough. Doing that way, it is important to use a small mirror to have a look on top of the seal area to make sure it is completely clean. The old seal should easily pop out from underneath once the valve body is removed, using an old blunt screwdriver and a tap with the heel of your hand.

Part 2 of my above post, sorry if its boring~! - i am having big dramas with the seal. I bought two seals originally, one for a 904 i was building on the bench. This seal went in no problems and the valve body/shift shaft slid in nicely. Easy when its on the bench. But in the car it has been a whole different story. The second seal installation proved very tight, one edge of the rim would not go in easily using a socket. So i tapped with one edge of a hammer. Went in easily, but now i found the seal was slightly deformed, even though the seal lip was perfectly round. I thought i'd try putting in the valve body anyway, just fill with oil and see if it leaked. Putting in the valve body with plenty of oil on everything, i could not prevent the seal lip from turning outwards. In the end the seal was wrecked. Popped it out and rushed to the bearing place for another seal. The one they supplied is slightly larger (about 10 thou larger) so now i have to get some wet and dry and open up the trans seal bed and smooth out the seal diameter. If this seal gets damaged, its off to a transmission place for another seal. What a nightmare!