AW4 Transmission Leaking

[BizarroStormy]

So it looks like the seal between the back of my transmission and my transfer case is leaking pretty badly. Usually leaves a dinner plate sized pool of ATF on the floor over night.

How hard is it to replace that seal? Will I have to drop the transmission?

If I have to drop the transmission should I have it rebuilt (223k miles), seems to shift fine when it has the proper amount of ATF.

[jdog]

I believe you can just drop the tcase to change out the gasket

[Dzimm]

Just need to remove the driveshaft and drop the transfer case.  No need to rebuild the trans if all is working.  At most drain and refill with new fluid.

[BizarroStormy]

Awesome, thanks guys.

[mjeff87]

I don't believe the AW4 has a weep hole drilled in the rear flange (to let you know that inner seal is bad, unlike the manual transmissions).  Not saying yours might not be bad, but I'd do a little looking to see where the leak might be coming from otherwise.  It doesn't help that the crossmember and trans mount are right there in that area, making it difficult to actually find the source.  Both the transmission and TC use ATF (but don't share), so it really could be either one.

 

If you're leaking that bad, check the fluid level in both....that might give a quick clue where to start looking.

[BizarroStormy]

I'm relatively sure it is the transmission, it was about 3 quarts low when I noticed it starting to shift poorly. After adding more fluid it leaked a lot more.