That’s what I thought, seems straightforward (maybe tight though). Was surprised @Nc211 said he needed to lift the trans to install and wondered if there was something I was missing, or maybe something with the deep PPE pan I was missing.
Thanks for the clarification! I’ll probably install in the next week or two, just waiting on a few bolts to replace the studs per @CarbonSteel’s suggestion.This is mine, not the deep pan. The exhaust basically sits right underneath the front curvature party of the pan. I don’t know if the deep pan is slightly different, but I had a difficult time getting mine to seat without the lifting. I was nervous about possibly bumping any of the internals of the transmission with turning it into place, as it was my first time doing it. Additionally will say that once I lifted it, this two corner bolts became a lot easier to manage and bolt back in. That front row of bolts were slightly tricky to navigate around the exhaust, with the two corners being the trickiest, just not a lot of room on mine because of the exhaust. The added couple of the inches made a nice difference.
On the bolts - BE CAREFUL on the torque. The pan does not call for a lot, and if like mine, you’ll likely feel how potentially easy it is to strip out the threads of the aluminum transmission housing. The PPE pan likely has the instructions on the cross pattern to follow to mount it as well.
Good luck and keep us posted!
On the deep pan, it's better to change all studs to bolts. You have to on the rear of the pan anyway.Definitely looks the same! This is my oem pan as I was starting. Mine was getting snagged by that lump on the exhaust pipe that is wrapped up when trying to get it in there.
But think moral of the story between the two approaches - if you do need some extra room or just want some, it’s an easy thing to achieve. Just back out the two sunken mount bolts, grabs floor jack and a couple of pieces of a 2x4, and lift it up at the transfer case about two inches. Mount the new pan, lower back down and keep on keepin’ on!
I remember seeing some YouTube videos on this project and they mentioned having to lift it up, but I think they were F150’s instead. That’s where I got the idea.
Tide, when you start, one tip that helped me - take a picture of the original pan so you can see the bolt pattern. It may come in handy when putting the new one on to recall where what bolt goes where again. Saved me on my short term memory issues!
On my last car before the bronco, a 2014 Mercedes e350, the dealership stripped out a bolt as well. I bought it as a CPO in 2017. When it came time to do the transmission fluid, my Indi mechanic called to ask if I had done anything to the car, of which was a big fat no! I couldn't figure out heads/tails on that over-engineered maintenance nightmare. Told me one of the bolts was missing on the pan, and one was held on by some type of glue. Pulled the records, and sure enough, a shifting complaint filed by the previous owner and the dealership changed the fluid at 15k miles. I bought it with 20k miles. So, it definitely happens! Mine on the Bronco is "snug" and that's it. I think it's like 8nm? Or something along those lines? Not a lot.
Interesting. Do you think the idle time from remote start really is a contributing factor? I am about 2K miles until my next oil change and have also been using remote start daily for the last month or so. My commute is super short. It takes me 4 minutes to get to work and I have noticed my mpg go down from 18+ to 15.1 over the past 2 months. I am also filling up about once a month now. I wonder if my issue’s culprit is what you describe. Keep us posted!
I think that it will contribute and when combined with the short(er) trips that I am doing these days (and yours are even shorter), dilution is somewhat inevitable. I have a very mild concern that I have a leaking injector, but that is not probable given the low mileage (I am at 20K).
If I were to replace the trans pan with a standard depth PPE pan, how many quarters should I put in?
When I did mine, fluid cold, I put in 6 of the motocraft quarts (and 5-10 ounces of Lubeguard Red). I had it checked recently at the dealer to make sure I had it right, and it checked out fine, read on the stick between 3-4 on their official warmed up test. Mine is very smooth, other than the usual ultra low speed clunks that we all suffer from. Accelerating and decelerating, I feel no shifts. Feels almost like a CVT thanks to 10 gears when accelerating.
