Transmission Pan Bolt broke off

[Royalwapiti]

I was in the last inning of changing my fluid and filter on my 6L80 tranny today. Took 3 times longer than I thought it would.

In the end I was torquing the bolts on the pan and the second to the last one broke off. All the other were just tighten, tighten, click. This was was tighten, tighten, tighten, wait what's wrong. Snap...

It is in the front next to the little rubber tab that holds the gasket in place.

Will it leak? I still the vehicle on stands, was going to pull the pan off and see if i can remove the bolt threaded part... If I can't unscrew the bolt with vice grips, not sure how i would do it. Oh, it's up by the exhaust pipe we had to pry out of the way....

I do weekend mechanic work, not a pro. I put new transmission cooler lines on last week (Saved $350) and after seeing the blackish tranny fluid decided to do the 100K service (filter and new fluid), shop wanted $290 to do this. I have a trip coming up in two week, cross country pulling a Polaris ranger on my utility trailer.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[HiHoeSilver]

I was in the last inning of changing my fluid and filter on my 6L80 tranny today. Took 3 times longer than I thought it would.

In the end I was torquing the bolts on the pan and the second to the last one broke off. All the other were just tighten, tighten, click. This was was tighten, tighten, tighten, wait what's wrong. Snap...

It is in the front next to the little rubber tab that holds the gasket in place.

Will it leak? I still the vehicle on stands, was going to pull the pan off and see if i can remove the bolt threaded part... If I can't unscrew the bolt with vice grips, not sure how i would do it. Oh, it's up by the exhaust pipe we had to pry out of the way....

I do weekend mechanic work, not a pro. I put new transmission cooler lines on last week (Saved $350) and after seeing the blackish tranny fluid decided to do the 100K service (filter and new fluid), shop wanted $290 to do this. I have a trip coming up in two week, cross country pulling a Polaris ranger on my utility trailer.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

That sucks. I'd run it and see. It's not going to be any harder to fix later than it is now. Drive it and keep an eyeball on it. My .02

 

[Rocket Man]

If it’s not leaking after you add fluid it’s probably going to be ok. It’s not under pressure so run it and see. Like @HiHoeSilver said, you can fix it later if it develops a leak.

 

[Royalwapiti]

Well I still have it up and have not added fluid so I think I am going to remove the pan again and see if i can get out...if not I'll try a screw extractor on my drill and if I still cannot get it I will use the heck out of gasket sealer on that side,,,,,see what happens...I made a freakin mess with the fluid draining it. Had it all over....don't want to do that again.

Thanks for the input. I would follow your advice if I didn't have a hunt planned 1500 miles away in two weeks where I will be pulling my Polaris...

Thanks Guys

 

[Rocket Man]

Well I still have it up and have not added fluid so I think I am going to remove the pan again and see if i can get out...if not I'll try a screw extractor on my drill and if I still cannot get it I will use the heck out of gasket sealer on that side,,,,,see what happens...I made a freakin mess with the fluid draining it. Had it all over....don't want to do that again.

Thanks for the input. I would follow your advice if I didn't have a hunt planned 1500 miles away in two weeks where I will be pulling my Polaris...

Thanks Guys

Yep there’s that and also the $90 worth of Dexron VI that the pan holds in place.

 

[89Suburban]

Any way you can add some kind of clamp in that spot to pinch it shut externally?

 

[Royalwapiti]

Ok,, I left the pan on and I tried drilling and kept getting too close to the threads. So I went to home lumber store (menards) and bought a Self Centering Drill bit, $8, setup commonly used for drilling holes in the center of hinge holes. I included a pic, I already had the extractors seen in the pic, they were $20.

I figured the self centering would keep my drill bit away from the threads and the pan hole would be used to center it. It worked. Then I stuck my drill extractor in and drilled a hair more and walla the threads on that caught the broken bolt and pulled it out. It was so easy once I had the right tools.

I was crapping my pants last night thinking it would leak and I wouldn't have time to fix it. But knew if I fixed it now I wouldn't have to mess with the fluid again.

Test drove for 20 miles, no leaks. Last week I put the tranny cooler lines in. That was easy.

What did I learn from this.

1) use a much bigger wider catch pan, like one of those plastic containers you store stuff in under a bed. To catch the fluid. I had a mess.
2) Have somebody available to pry the exhaust down out of the way, I used a pry bar on my floor jack to hold it down, worked, but help is nice.
3) Don't mess with changing the seal on the filter. I boogered mine up and had to buy a new filter. Could not find just the seal. I saved the extra filter and will not mess with seal next time.
4) Stay with the 7 inch lb torque on pan bolts. I thought the spec was 8 inch pounds (96 foot lbs.) It's 80 foot lbs.

Thanks for the comments and inspiration to get it done right.

 

[Fless]

4) Stay with the 7 inch lb torque on pan bolts. I thought the spec was 8 inch pounds (96 foot lbs.) It's 80 foot lbs.

Good work getting that bolt out. I don't know the exact spec for your tranny pan bolts, but it's probably spec'd in INCH pounds. So 80 inch pounds would be a little less than 7 foot lbs. 12 IN-LBS = 1 FT-LB.

 

[Rocket Man]

Ok,, I left the pan on and I tried drilling and kept getting too close to the threads. So I went to home lumber store (menards) and bought a Self Centering Drill bit, $8, setup commonly used for drilling holes in the center of hinge holes. I included a pic, I already had the extractors seen in the pic, they were $20.

I figured the self centering would keep my drill bit away from the threads and the pan hole would be used to center it. It worked. Then I stuck my drill extractor in and drilled a hair more and walla the threads on that caught the broken bolt and pulled it out. It was so easy once I had the right tools.

I was crapping my pants last night thinking it would leak and I wouldn't have time to fix it. But knew if I fixed it now I wouldn't have to mess with the fluid again.

Test drove for 20 miles, no leaks. Last week I put the tranny cooler lines in. That was easy.

What did I learn from this.

1) use a much bigger wider catch pan, like one of those plastic containers you store stuff in under a bed. To catch the fluid. I had a mess.
2) Have somebody available to pry the exhaust down out of the way, I used a pry bar on my floor jack to hold it down, worked, but help is nice.
3) Don't mess with changing the seal on the filter. I boogered mine up and had to buy a new filter. Could not find just the seal. I saved the extra filter and will not mess with seal next time.
4) Stay with the 7 inch lb torque on pan bolts. I thought the spec was 8 inch pounds (96 foot lbs.) It's 80 foot lbs.

Thanks for the comments and inspiration to get it done right.

View attachment 228575

You’re confused on the conversion from in/lbs to ft/lbs. and hopefully you’re just expressing it wrong. The specs on pan bolts on a 6l80 are 80 in/ lbs which is 6.6 ft/lbs. A ft/lb is 12 in/lbs. Please don’t tell me you didn’t torque them to 80 ft/lbs because if you did, you probably need a new pan, gasket and bolts and that is why you broke a bolt. I was wondering how you broke one unless it was cross threaded but if you hit them with 12 times their specified torque then that’s why. At that much torque your pan will be mushroomed at every bolt hole, your gasket will be smashed and the threads will be ready to strip. It will leak. If not right away, it will soon.

 

[drakon543]

torque specs? just keep turning until it stops or you here crunching right? i like to buy the premium gaskets with the crush ring around the bolt holes. real thin skim of gasket rtv to keep the gasket tacky and sticking to the pan as i reinstall. and a dab of rtv to each bolt to keep them from backing back out. and i only use a 1/4 drive ratchet to reinstall the bolts helps keep you from doing too much ugggg.