[Crawdaddy]

Ok, I'm working on pulling the valve body on the truck to overhaul it to hopefully fix my shifting issue. However, I have all the bolts out, and I can't seem to get the valve body down. It seems like it's hanging up on a bolt that I can't find!. It'll swivel from a point neaf the rear. I think I tracked it down to the linkage that joins the shifter to the valve body. I can't quite figure out how to get the linkage disconnected from the valve. Any help is greatly appreciated, as I'm running out of daylight today, and I want to get this done NWO before I forget how the blasted thing goes together.

 

[Crawdaddy]

Ok, got the valve body out of the truck. The separator plate stayed up there, presumably because I didn't take some solenoid down in the back of the transmission that it looks like the gaskget and separator plate are under. Thank god for that too, since there's a check ball up there on the top side of the plate. I have no clue how I'll get that down and back up without losing the ball. Still looking for tips on how to make this procedure hurt less...

 

[Crawdaddy]

After pulling this thing apart, I've decided that I need to buy some things before I put it back together. First of all, I need a manual on how to rebuild it. I've found the ATSG manual, which seems to be the best. I've also decided that I'm going to put the shift kit in since I've got everything that I'd need to modify out anyways. Additionally, I've decided that I'm going to put the aux cooler for the transmission in, and I'm going to go with flex hosing all the way back to the transmission. What kind of connectors do I need to use to connect the rubber hose to the transmission housing. I'm thinking a barb-style fitting with a couple hose clamps, but I don't know how much pressure and heat I'm playing with. If there anyone that knows where I can buy most of this stuff at one location. I've looked on Jegs without much success. I'm trying to avoid Phoenix Transmissions, since they're the people that screwed me into having to do this in the first place. Thanks as always.

 

[Crawdaddy]

I'm having a hell of a time locating a valve body rebuild kit. I'm fixing to just buy a whole new valve body that's already been modified/designed for towing. However, through a lot of searching, I've only been able to find such a thing at the dreaded phoenix transmission. Otherwise, I can only find the TCI valve bodies designed for racing to varying degrees, none of which are even street/strip, much less anything else. I'm definitley looking for a little love here to help find these parts. I've also been thinking about it, and I can't justify 260 bucks for a transmission pan, not yet at least. I was thinking about drilling and tapping holes in the factory pan to add a drain plug into. I'm just checking to make sure this is possible with as thin as the metal seems. I'm no pro when it comes to working with metal... I can hold off on the temp sender port until I get closer to adding the gauge in.