4. One other thing we made that really made it easier is a homemade fixture made out of 1”x1”x1/8” angle iron that bolts to the pan rail and has a 2” piece of pipe on the end that goes into the head of our portable engine stand. Easy to rotate and stable. There are commercial units available but for two or three times a year a homemade one will work fine.

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I will do my best to keep this short but there are so many details that it is difficult. I cannot emphasize enough how useful Carl Munroe’s Power-Glide Handbook is. It literally took me from rookie to confident with his excellent instructions that are aided by hundreds of great photos.

First thing to do is drain the transmission the best you can. Then remove the pan and note the amount of debris inside -- a lot of shiny debris should prompt you to look closely at bushings, gear sets and have the torque converter freshened. Next remove the two bolts holding the filter on. The trans-brake solenoid and the spool valve that goes against the solenoid are next. The valve body can now be removed. There are three bolts that go through it at the front of the valve body and four at the rear of the valve body. When you lift it out just wiggle the small steel tube that runs from the valve body to the case and it will come out with the valve body.

This is the bottom view of an empty case (this one is a Dedenbear SFI certified case.)

Now you can do your first measuring. I have a small piece of angle iron I clamp to the bell-housing area and a dial indicator with a magnetic base that attaches to it. Line up the dial indicator so it can measure movement on the end of the input shaft. Push down on the shaft and try to get the dial indicator set to zero at that point. Then push in on the output shaft and read the dial indicator to see how much “input shaft end-play” you have; write it down for later reference.