The stock ATF pan has no drain bolt and with 4WD there is no clearance to unbolt the pan bolts and drop it straight down. Remember the pan is full of hot, dirty ATF.
The solution is :
​​​​​​If I remember right it stated unbolt the transmission mount from the cross member and by jacking under the rear of the transmission case jack the rear of the transmission as high as you can, This amount is only about 2 inches or less. That 2 " gives you just barely enough room to wiggle out the trans pan. Carefully, very carefully.
I am wondering if there is a way to remove the ATF in the pan by sucking it out with a hand pump. I would think the ATF trans dip stick tube is big enough to get a narrow tube down the hole and pump it out manually. Has anyone tried this or seen this procedure in a You tube video ?
Yes, you would only remove the ATF in the pan, but that is all you remove in the 'old drain the pan and refill with new ATF' method. The only disadvantage with this method is you are not able to Remove and Replace the ATF screen which is commonly referred to as a filter. Many have said it is not necessary to replace the screen /filter each time, so i don't worry about not doing that.
Any questions or solutions would be appreciated. TIA for your help. Jim in SC

 

So I've done this once when I accidentally over-filled the ATF after fixing a leaky TC input seal and vacuum valve.

What I did was build a vacuum pump with a T off of the truck's vacuum system. I had a vac hose from the truck vacuum connected into a large closed mason jar, and then a second vacuum hose from the jar that I stuck the other end down the dipstick tube. The two hoses I sealed to the mason jar lid. As soon as I started the truck the engine vacuum pulled the excess ATF out into the mason jar. It was super simple and worked amazingly well. You just have to make sure to not fill the jar to the point where it could pull ATF into the vac system.

 

This is clever. They also make electric pump systems with a thin tube that does the same thing.

George

 

Everybody who works on cars should own one of these.

 

We have to do something similar is boating where drains are difficult to get to or do not exist like on the gears (tranny) of inboard vessels.


George

 

I use that thing for draining transmissions, radiators, motorcycle gas tanks, master cylinders, etc. Works great for vacuum brake bleeding, too. It's one of my favorite tools.

 

OP here. I searched the You Tube and found several people who recommended a Hand Pump from HFT, The intake hose goes into the dip stick tube easily. Make sure the tube is inserted all the way to the bottom of the pan. Just pump the Hand pump into some empty quart oil bottles. When the last one is full, you now know how much to refill the trans. IOW if you pumped out 6.5 quarts, replace with 6 and one half quarts of fresh ATF. You already have the dirty ATF ready to go to the recycling location. That HFT hand pump is very inexpensive. I think it was less than $15 or 20 dollars. IIRC

 

Here are some You Tube links on the HFT hand pump to remove the old ATF from the pan. In the comments, the posters ponder about the draw backs of his method----you cannot clean the pan, you cannot inspect the magnetic drain plug or clean that plug off, and that you can't change the pan filter. I thought at one time the pan filter had to be changed every time you changed the ATF. I no longer believe that. It is not like an engine oil and filter change. I think every other time or every third time would be sufficient.
Another HFT specific concern is the two transfer hoses are RED so you can't see the fluid being transferred ! My HFT hand pumps are an older version and have transparent tubes---both in and out. By the way, the top tube port is 'IN' and the bottom tube port is 'OUT', My older version also seemed to have longer transfer tubes. That is certainly something to look for when you look at the various pumps out there, That tube must be long enough to go to the bottom of the pan.
This pump method could also be used on the power steering and the rear differential.

 

I always change the filter after using the evacuator to drain the pan and make removal less messy. But it probably doesn't need to be replaced every time.

The beauty of the pump I posted over the Harbor Freight one is that you can pump it a few times, then walk away. The vacuum in the reservoir will continue to suck out the fluid, and it will hold enough to drain a whole transmission pan or radiator. No need to keep switching bottles. But the Harbor Freight one definitely has price going for it.

 

I always changed my vehicle's ATF filter and pan gasket when i drained the ATF in my former GM cars----until I got a 4WD Blazer. The first time I had to drop the ATF pan with no drain plug was an eye opener. There was not a way to just drop the pan. I had to find out the hard way I could raise the pan 2 inches if I removed the trans mount bolts connected to the cross member. I could barely squeeze the pan out even then. I should have installed an after market 'drain bolt' right then. But I was in a big hurry to get my SUV back on the road. Bad mistake. I do think that a filter 'screen' change every other time would suffice. This is from reading many reports on ATF and 4WD vehicles. It is not like a engine oil filter change that you routinely replace the filter and oil every time. Yes, I do remember the old timers saying that they would replace the oil filter 'every other time.' Those days are long gone.

The trans cross member doesn't come off. Just the two bolts holding the transmission mount to the crossmember. Then carefully jack up the trans with a block of wood protecting the trans. I am adding this note after reading the note in the 'RELATED TOPICS' see below.