Transit Transmission Crossmember Bolts

mchan68 · June 16, 2018

Hi all. I'm not sure where to post this but since it pertains to a particular repair step, I'll post here. I have Transit 3.2L that I'm in the midst of trying to replace the DEF tank heater/sender unit to correct a P20BA DTC setting. This is not a repair that is new to me by any stretch. However, on this particular unit, I cannot budge any of the four transmission crossmember fasteners if my life were to depend on it. I've tried heating the heads of the bolts cherry red, and letting it cool off before attempting further. I would like to ideally put heat to where they thread into, but because of this particular body design the area in question is not accessible. And speaking of further attempts, I've resorted to using a 3/4" drive impact gun with a short 18mm impact socket along with a 3/4" drive long breaker bar to no avail. The amount of force used, felt like I was on the verge of snapping the bolts!!! Has anyone else come across this yet? Any workarounds? I would hate to think if for any reason the transmission needed removed that this would prevent that from happening.

RyanG · June 16, 2018

You can take the tanks out without removing the cross member. Just did one last week, unbolt the bracket that the tank sits in and let it sag down to allow room for disconnecting the fill pipe. Everything else can be disconnected with the tank still bolted up.

forddieseldoctor · June 16, 2018

2 hours ago, RyanG said:

You can take the tanks out without removing the cross member. Just did one last week, unbolt the bracket that the tank sits in and let it sag down to allow room for disconnecting the fill pipe. Everything else can be disconnected with the tank still bolted up.

Agreed. The tank can be slid out without removing the crossmember. Just don’t tell Uncle Henry that.

mchan68 · June 16, 2018

Thanks guys. That's good to know. And, nooooooo………… I won't be telling Uncle Henry that either. Not that it is relevant to the repair I'm involved in on this particular unit, but I'd hate to think of the poor guy having to deal with this, if the transmission ever needed to be removed for whatever reason.

forddieseldoctor · June 17, 2018

A trans in one of those things looks like a nightmare anyway.

Keith Browning · June 17, 2018

The rear transmission support is not so bad except in cases like this. It's the front crossmember that sucks. If you have to do a cat ypipe, remove the trans or just pull the pan to replace the main control or somehting you do not have to remove it either or disconnect everything. I have found that simply disconnecting the steering shaft and the sway bar ends then removing the bols is sufficient. It will hang low enough to work around.

I was not aware the trans support did not need to come out to access the DEF tank. I just did one and assessed this idea but went ahead with removing the trans support which is not a big deal when everything loosens okay. Sorry to hear about you struggles Mike. This is something I would expect don here in the rust belt.

mchan68 · June 17, 2018

4 hours ago, Keith Browning said:

I was not aware the trans support did not need to come out to access the DEF tank. I just did one and assessed this idea but went ahead with removing the trans support which is not a big deal when everything loosens okay. Sorry to hear about you struggles Mike. This is something I would expect don here in the rust belt.

Neither was I Keith, up until posting this. And I have already replaced a few DEF tank heaters on these. I've only remembered getting splattered with some water on the other ones when removing the rear transmission support bolts. Perhaps this is the reason the one I currently have won't budge? And yes, I certainly agree that being in the rust belt areas like we are, is where we're going to have to deal with this sort of thing. But again, I'm really curious as to what the work around is going to be in these sorts of situations. I am going to attempt to remove the tank on this unit without removing the support, but still wonder how this will be addressed when the transmission will need to be removed. I tried checking OASIS and nothing comes up. Those stupid driveshaft recalls are bad enough as it is. I don't want to imagine what kind of bulletin would be issued if Ford gets wind of this. I have to wonder if there has been any Hotline requests by other techs and what their response was.