2018 3.6 JLU Seal Failures - Rear Main Seal failure

[Ron ap Rhys]

I did the rear main replacement over the weekend. Project done in my garage, no lift - and almost all just me doing the work. Couple of tips that may make this easier for someone else:

• If you have a lift, that'd make your life much, much easier. Just sayin'.
• A transmission jack is almost a must.
• I wouldn't suggest farting around - just pull the driver's cat, motor mount, y-pipe, and starter. I don't know a way you'd be able to do this without pulling those.
• Even though you don't technically have to, order and replace the torque converter to flywheel bolts. Had the transmission bolted up, was torquing them, and one broke. This is a royal pain in the arse as you have to pull the transmission back out, pull the TC itself, then get a large set of pliers on the back of the bolt that protrudes through.
• You can do this without removing the transfer case - it just makes the transmission really tail-heavy.
• No need to drain the coolant and remove those lines - you can just keep them out of the way.
• Put the damned thing in neutral first. Makes it easier to spin the flywheel so you can get to the different attachment bolts.

I've been a normal home mechanic for years, but don't do too much of this anymore. This took me just under 30 hours. Again, alone and in my garage. If you're used to wrenching, I'm thinking you can do this in less time. If you have a lift, maybe in one long day.

Sponsored