sellmanb

So my friend and I have spent the last 3 hours trying to figure out how to put this snap ring back on over the servo cover. We push the servo in, then put the snap ring around it, but we came to find out that the servo cover doesnt go down far enough( ) in order to get to the "grooves" where the snap ring needs to lay.


We currently have the transmission dropped, and the servo cover is easily visible. Are we just missing something, or does this take brute force? I know I used a prybar to push the cover in so I could take the snap ring out before, but I dont see how you all do that alone... prybar in one hand pushing VERY hard on the servo cover, one hand putting the snap ring around the perimeter, and another hand with a screwdriver pushing it in... wait, where did you guys grow a 3rd hand?


Any help is much appreciated! Thanks in advanced.

Floor guy

Lube the pizz out of the o rings using vaseline. Then som gentle brute force is needed. There are 3 springs in there fighting you, 2 of them are pretty stiff.

RBob

iTrader: (1)

I know what you mean about needing that third hand. What I do is to hook the pry bar behind the jackstand. That becomes the third hand. Once the cover is in far enough and the pry bar placed behind the jackstand I can then get the snap ring pushed into place. HTH,

RBob.

firebirdjones

They actually make a tool for that, I made my own tool to do it, works on the 350 turbos too.
It uses a couple of the bolts for the trans pan to hold the tool, it then comes out and makes a 90 degree turn towards the servo cover, I then drilled a hole and welded a 3/8 nut to the bar stock centered over the cover about 1 inch away, all you have to do then is run a 3/8 bolt through the hole and tighten down until the groove is visable and the snap ring will go right in.
It takes a little time to make a tool for this but it sure saves a lot of cussing. Larry.

sellmanb

Thanks guys.

I used 1/3 a vaseline jar on this already, that should be enough, right? lol. I forgot about the springs being so tough, but you're right, that must be why it's so hard to push in.

Prybar behind the jackstand, that's a great idea. I'll have to try that out (will have to strategically place a jackstand though lol.)

Yeah I was reading in my Helms manual to see if there were any tricks to getting it in all the way and they have a picture of a tool for it... I just dont want to have to buy a tool I'll only use ONCE lol.

I'll keep on trying to get this sucker in, but if I cant get it, I think I'll probably bring the tranny to a transmission shop (which I reaaally dont want to do). I cant figure out how to get the line out that is attached right next to the servo cover though, otherwise I'd have the tranny on my workbench lol.

IROC212

iTrader: (1)

Mine was a real pain in the rear too. I had my friend pushing down on it with the handle of a hammer(on the bench/out of the car) while I put the snap ring in. I noticed the seal on the cover gets hung up in the groove where the snap ring goes in. I had to really push on it, then it popped the rest of the way in. Those springs are tough too, once it popps in make sure you can keep it there while someone puts the snapring in.

yuel

just click on my link when i changed my last weekend, when throught the same crap but with a happy ending
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=285036

sellmanb

OK. So I got it in! Figure I'll post how I got it through just for future references.

The biggest problem was that the last O-ring that goes around the servo cover, was getting caught up in the snap-ring grooves. I pushed straight on as much as I could with it in the car still and to no avail. I dropped the tranny to the ground, and still nothing, ended up taking everything out, lubing it to death again w/ vaseline, putting the tranny on it's side, and taking a hammer, and while pushing the cover in at the center w/ my left hand, I hammered (fairly hard, but not enough to really bang up anything) around the corners. One side would go in at a time, and then I threw down the hammer, grabbed the snap ring, put it in, grabbed a screwdriver and made sure it was in all the way, and voila.

It pushes back and forth in there with ease by hand, which apparently means that it was done right (phew).

Thanks for all the help everyone! I would have given up if it werent for you all