I have decided to do my rear main seal. This will be my first time ever doing anything with removing my transmission! I have a 1998 4.0 4x4 XLT Ranger. It has about 276,xxx miles. Ever since I've owned the vehicle it has had a steady oil leak and the rear main seal seems to be the culprit. I'm looking for obvious tips from anyone who has done this before. Also other things I should replace since I'm going to have the tranny off. Please give me some advice! I've done tons of work on this truck but I've never done anything around the transmission. I'm new to removing transmissions and reinstallation. I've been doing a fair amount of research and I think it's do-able! Warnings, comments or tips please! Thanks guys!

 

Not to hard to do the rear main seal

Very hard to get at the rear main seal, lol.

Biggest warning is DO NOT SCRATCH crank surface.
When removing old seal you have to be careful not to scratch the surface the new seal will ride on, or it will still leak and scratch will tear up new seal.

You can buy Sleeve kit seals, they come with a sleeve that sides onto the crank and a slightly larger seal that rides on the sleeve, this fixes scratched cranks

Sometimes the old seals come out with little effort
Some are harder to get out
I have used screws to remove these harder ones
You screw in self tapping screw into the seals metal part and it will usually hit back engine surface and start pulling the seal out, if not then just pull on the screw, "slide hammer" like to pull it off
Use two screws on opposite sides

Use wood piece to tap around new seal to seat it in place, no metal on metal tapping


Check transmission seal

Clutch?

Torque converter?

 

So I believe the seal I'll be buying is from Ford which comes with the sleeve. It is an automatic so I'm not sure what to look for with the torque converter. Do I need to drain the transmission fluid or can I leave that alone? Also can I remove the transfer case and the transmission at the same time without taking the 2 apart?

 

You must unbolt the torque converter from the flex plate through the starter hole before pulling the trans off. Its a total of 4 bolts. You can leave the trans and transfer case together when removing and installing it. You will need a second hand removong and installing it. You don't need to drain the fluid in the trans however it may leak a bit if you too it sideways. The hardest part honestly I think is removing the y pipe. It's a pain in the ***.

 

If the trans isn't slipping the torque converter is OK


+1 to what Super-Mario said

Just to add, one BIG VERY EXPENSIVE mistake you can do with an automatic is to not seat the torque converter INTO the transmission when installing the transmission.

The torque converter is heavy(full of transmission fluid) and will most likely slide out and off when you pull out the transmission/transfer case
So be aware of that

When ready to reinstall put torque converter onto the input shaft of trans
push it in until it stops
now TURN torque converter and push in, it will slide in at least TWO MORE TIMES
You don't have to push hard, but you do have to keep turning it

Video on that here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_nr4WQDpvw

Torque converter should be inside bellhousing not sticking out when seated correctly

And once trans is bolted to the engine torque converter should still spin so you can line up the bolt holes on the flex plate

One more add, remove all spark plugs, makes crank/flexplate easier to turn to get at all 4 torque converter bolts

 

This is super helpful, thanks a ton. The last ting would be the lines that run above the transmission. Are those transmission lines or what? Do I just disconnect them as I would any other thing or is there any special procedure?

 

They are the lines to the radiator and trans cooler. Just unbolt them and label them so you remember where they went. Good idea to use a flare wrench. They can strip easily. Simply tighten back on when reassembling.

 

This has been quite helpful! Last thing would be do you guys recommend the Ford seal which is about $70 or the one from my auto parts store which is $15?

 

Trans fluid will leak out of those lines and the trans cooler so have a few catch cans at the ready

I have always used local auto parts for gaskets and seals, but really up to you.

You don't need the Sleeved seal unless crank is scratched

 

Because I do not know if my crank is scratched right now am I safe just to get the seal with the sleeve? Because I don't want to get the cheap sleeveless one only to find out my crank is scratched.

 

Sure, they are usually not harder to install than regular seals.

For $70 it should come with the install "tool", similar to large socket that you tighten using crank bolts to push on sleeve and seal