I have a 1988 S-10 Blazer, 2.8 automatic. I don't know which automatic transmission it has. It's a three speed with overdrive. It's been leaking transmission fluid for quite a while, not to the point of needing to add much but always leaving a spot or two. Today we decided to determine the source. One of the cooling lines was rubbing on the crossmember and it chafed a spot. As soon as we touched it, the leak got way worse. We opened the floodgates...literally. We ended up cutting the line and putting a piece of fuel hose over it with clamps. My son in law (who helped me) claims it is also leaking (slowly) from where the line goes into the transmission itself. I can't say for sure, but there is still a drip from somewhere.

My question is about replacing the lines. I have no problem ordering the pre-bent lines (not looking to cheat) but I don't see how human hands can get up between the transmission and the floor hump to unhook the lines. My son in law thinks he might be able to reach up there if we drop the exhaust. I wondered about dropping the crossmember and lowering the transmission and transfer case enough to reach up in there.

Any suggestions would be welcomed and appreciated.

 

I had to connect my transmission lines after I re-installed my engine and transmission. I was able to make the connections through the wheel well. I ended up having to remove the flarenut adapter from the transmission to get the tube nut started.into the adapter and than thread the adapter back into the transmission. I do not remember if I had the crossmeber removed and the trans lowered a little or not.

 

This is from my original post:
Installed and connected the transmission Cooling lines to the radiator. This was a real PIA. I had to remove the Y-Pipe, the Cat, Trans Crossmember and lower the engine down to access the transmission tube connections.
Once I was able to get both lines ran between the engine and transmission I was able to connect the lines to the radiator with out much difficulty.
The transmission connection was another story. The tubing was not centered perfectly to the flare fittings and it was very difficult to get the flare nuts to start threading on. It took my over 2 hours to get the lower fitting to thread on. I never could get the upper fitting tubing nut to thread on.
I finally decided to remove the flare fitting from the transmission and thread in onto the tube flare nut and thread the transmission fitting on to the transmission. This whole evolution took me over 5 hours.