Tranny Pan Bolts.

I plan on doing all the service on my new ride. Have read that the transmission pan Bolts are prone to breaking. Thought I might remove Bolts one by one and apply anti sieze while truck is new without any corrosion. Can Anyone say whether this is a bad idea? Thanks. Bob

 

Whenever I dropped my pan for service, one bolt broke. I put a helicoil in it. I upgraded all the bolts to a higher grade. 10.8 and applied never seaze. The factory bolts are a poor design imo

 

Right. Thanks. I am trying to avoid breaking Bolts. How old was your truck when you broke this bolt?

 

I broke 2 or three on my ‘08 when I dropped the pan in ‘17. Guessing it had never been dropped, and yes, all bolts got anti-sieze. Just don’t torque to the full spec after, drop 10% for the lubricated threads.

 

Why even both. The trans filter is a steel mesh. If the filter was a fiber filter like the domestic have then a pan drop is required.

 

?

 

Thank you.

 

Taking down the pan to do a service is not required. The filter is just a screen that filters out larger particles. Just drain and fill.

 

After seeing everyone's issues with breaking the pan bolts and seeing a pan dropped that had little to no metal on the magnets. Plus the silly process to check the level my plan is to just pull the drain bolt measure what comes out and refill once a year. Figure that way the fluid stays fresh and no need to ever do a full flush.

 

The filter is a fiber type. I posted pictures of it when I removed it during my transmission pan drop. I opened up the filter to see how much clutch material was in it. I believe the thread is called "2014 transmission maintenance question" lots of good info there. But after seeing the inside of the filter at 175k miles I doubt I change mine again.

 

Its a 2014 and had 175k when service was performed

 

I did this exact thing to mine, removed each bolt and applied never seize. I see no downside.

 

I stand corrected, it appears to be a fiber filter but there is a reason for my assumption. Nobody at our dealership has ever replaced one. There isn't any reason in doing it. Service at the dealership involved just dropping the fluid and refilling. From the thread you refer to a Toyota parts person quoted:

" I work for two toyota parts departments. I never sold one trans filter for any toyota, even to the mechanics. I worked in parts from 1997 to 2005. The mechanics washed them, most wanted the money of a power flush. It was easier and it didn’t involve dropping the trans pan. My sales were 1.3 million plus per year, thats a lot of parts and again not one trans filter."

To me doing a service that is not required and taking the chance your going to break of bolts seems like an absolute waste of time.

 

Which Bolts did you use? Excuse my lack of knowledge. What are 10.8? Thanks. Bob

 

You are probably correct. I guess my concern is that I'm driving a 2020 which seems to have no cooling for tranny whatsoever. Mine runs 200 degrees just heading down the road unloaded. I assume this will eventually break down the atf more quickly than you fellas with older cooler running tranny. Just wanted to be prepared.

 

To each their own. I've always replaced my filters in my transmissions. After reading that not alot of people change theirs in the tundras, I was curious about how my filter looked on the inside, and to see if it was a screen or fiber type. My truck also had 175k miles on it at the time. That's alot of miles. I wanted to see what the filter looked like, and how well it was doing its job. I may drop the pan every 100k now just to inspect the magnets to see how my transmission is wearing.

 

I used a grade 10.8 bolt. It comes from the factory with a grade 8.8. The higher the grade, the tougher the bolt in a nutshell.

 

The 2019 and 2020 used an oil to coolant heat exchanger. The older Tundra uses a oil to air heat exchanger which isn't as efficient. The reason your seeing 200° is because the trans is matching the coolant temp which runs around 198° on the 2020.

 

If you are familiar with common bolt strengths, 10.9 metric grade is stronger than Grade 8, which is the strongest common bolt you can get. There are still stronger metric grade bolts beyond 10.9 grade.

The only reason I can see for Toyota engineers specifying a 8.8 grade bolt is that they prefer the bolt snap off rather than techs strip the threads in the aluminum transmission housing. I suppose a craftsman can remove a broken pan bolt without damaging the housing threads, especially if there is a stub that can be gripped. To possibly avoid a bad surprise, use the torque value specified for the 8.8 grade bolts, rather than the torque specified for the 10.9 grade bolts.

 

Do you remember specific size? Thanks

 

I'm with you brother - 100%!!!, just drain/measure/refill same amount. What could be Easier? really....

And yeah the oem toyo filter won't stop squat that matters (3-25 micron bits of metal/debris), it only stops larger chunks - which by then don't really matter - its toast.

I run a Magnefine, it does stop 3-25 micron stuff, takes 5 mins to put on and swap once every 50-75k. Has a bypass valve in case you wait too long to swap - don't want to starve that trans pump!

$26 Magnefine 3/8" Magnetic Inline Transmission/Power Steering Filter

https://www.amazon.com/Magnefine-Ma...d=1581275136&sprefix=magnefine,aps,218&sr=8-2

 

Okay my horror story! Add me to the folks who wanted to change out that transmission filter and I had 2 bolts that broke when I was removing the pan. (And one wouldn't come out, must've gotten cross-threaded, so had to drill it out.) Truck is a 2014 but not many miles. Magnets had very little on them and fluid wasn't clear but wasn't very dirty, either. I'm having a local mechanic tap and die for a new bolt and reseal the pan for me and I'll NEVER touch it, again, just going to drain and refill. Those friggin bolts Toyota used are ridiculously fragile!
To ensure we have the right amount of Toyota ATF WS fluid, we are supposed to get it up to between 104-113 degrees then we use a 5mm alan wrench to open the overfill drain that ensures the fluid level is correct. (A master Toyota mechanic gave me a good tip...use a laser temperature gun aimed at the drain pan above the drain bolt, it's much easier than hooking up a OBD2 reader for the tranny temps.) So, at least, I know I got that. (5 quarts came out from the drain plug, then probably another 1/2 a quart when I removed the filter. I put in 6 quarts before the temp check and overfill drain.) Oh, if you have a tow package that has the transmission cooler, there is a valve you have to block open before doing the temp and overfill drain step...but many vidoes out there on how to do that. (I used a small drill bit to put in there but had to use a long needle-nose plier to get it out as the tailpipe near there was getting pretty hot.)

 

So many owners feel they need to change the filter for something that doesn't needs servicing. Must be leftover thinking from owning domestic vehicle.

 

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I agree, I changed mine cause it had 176k miles on it, virtually nothing inside the filter, I changed it more out of curiosity and to provide info for people on this forum. After opening it up, I now know it is truly a lifetime filter, and doesn't need to be changed. I do my best to tell people this, and show them evidence, but they don't listen and usually end up with broken pan bolts, them come here asking for a remedy.

 

All the time I was at the dealership I never once dropped the pan to change the filter. The ones that we did have the pan off for other reasons always had a clean trans filter.

 

If I ever change mine again, I will post pictures, and it will be purely to show people that you don't need to change it all, maybe when I hit 500k miles. Almost halfway there now!

My E4OD in my 7.3 on the other hand... every 30k it gets changed and usually has a fair bit of stuff in it. But she still shifts great and pulls strong with 296k on the original trans.

 

One of the things I did after I bought my 2020 was to remove the tranny pan bolts one at a time and Never-Seez them. The reason they freeze up is because the bolts swell up from corrosion. The pan area never gets washed like the rest of the truck.

 

New truck here, might be adding a HP valve body at some point for towing. So, what about swapping the bolts now with high grade and adding never seize one at a time to maintain gasket and seal integrity? Yes, I know several parts will drop out when the valve body is dropped.

 

Yep it's a filter so don't filters need changing? (Mine was 7-years old) But I'm glad the newer transmissions don't have stupid pans to drop for servicing...just drain and fill. Anybody remember cars in the 70's and 80's that needs new plugs every 30,000 miles, carburetor and timing tune-ups all the time, valve adjustments, and having to lube up everything!!