I'm replacing an engine and have the AW71 trans out at the same time. The tranny didn't seem to have too much leakage anywhere (just caked on grease), but the car has 150k and I want to at least do the equivalent of replacing a rear main seal when you're replacing the clutch on a manual trans. Since I don't see any obvious problems now and it seems easy to access the trans output housing in case of problems later, is this enough?

So far, I am going to order:
1. AT Pump Input Seal Front 85-90 w/ AW70 and all 91-92 (fcpgroton)

-Nathan
(end of my text)

These entries I found in the FAQ:

"While you have it out it is a good time to replace the front seal on the transmission (readily accessable once removed) as well as the rear seal and output shaft bushing if the bushing hasn't been replaced yet (you'll need the gasket between the transmission and the rear housing if you replace the bushing). There are various other seals on the transmission that can be replaced at this time- look for fluid leaks."

"I removed the TC and then using a seal puller removed the front main seal. Slathered a generous amount of ATF of the new seal and carefully seated it so it was not cocked. Make sure you lube all new seals. I also replaced the cross (selector) shaft seals,solenoid and cooler line o-rings, kickdown cable o-ring and kick down cable, pulled the pan and cleaned it and the pan magnet, pulled the mesh filter screen and cleaned it, and replaced the pan gasket. Replaced the rear bushing, oil seal, and gasket. I also put in new nylon shift linkage bushings and overdrive solenoid o-rings. All this is a lot easier to do when the tranny's out of the Brick ... and if done correctly will assure you not a drop of ATF will leak out of your new autobox. On reinstallation, I replaced the kickdown cable. I filled the new box with approx 8 Qts of Mobile 1 synthetic ATF and a dose of Lube Guard."

"[Procedure Notes 1:]
Start with the driveshaft bolts while the car is still on the ground. That way you can roll the car a little to get to all 4 bolts *easily*. If you're driving up on ramps like I did, this won't work and you'll need a crow's-foot wrench (my 9/16" worked fine) to get to the ones on the top of the flange. A generous supply of profanity helped in my case... It's a good idea to mark the output flange and shaft flange so you can mate them up when the time comes to put it back together [critical for proper driveshaft balance.] Once the bolts are out, push the driveshaft toward the rear of the car and it will pop out of the flange. You can shove it up above the flange to get it out of the way. Raise the car up (jackstands, ramps whatever)if it's not already and drain the tranny fluid. Put the selector in Park and use a 30mm socket to remove the bolt in the center of the flange. This bolt holds the flange to the output shaft. Once it's out you can pull the flange out of the housing. Remove the 15mm nut in the middle of the transmission mount (rear end of transmission). Support the pan with a piece of wood held up by a floor jack, just enough to take the pressure off the tranny mount. You should see the mount bolt come up slightly. Then remove the four bolts that hold the mount to the chassis. The mount will come off, and the tail housing will be clearly visible. Four bolts (14mm I think) hold the housing to the main body of the tranny. The top and bottom bolts are different lengths, so note where they came from. With a little "gentle persuasion," the housing will come off. On my particular car, the PO slid it into a ditch and caught the end of the center mount bolt which cracked the housing. This also saved me the trouble of taking off the "L" mounting bracket. It won't have to come off if you just plan to replace the seal. The seal is easy to get to and *looks* like you could pry it out with a screwdriver, but I have never tried this. You're going to end up with a roughly 6x6x8 inch housing which you can work on at your leisure. If you don`t have the tools to remove/replace the bushing, you can just bring the housing to almost any auto service shop and they will be able to press a new one in for a few bucks. Plan for about 2 hours under the car to get it out. If the gods of rusted bolts are on your side, it could be done in 45 minutes or so, I'd guess. Nothing is particularly difficult about the operation. Although I recently told someone to shoot me if I ever said it, "installation is the reverse of removal" (BOOM). See orientation notes below. The center flange bolt only holds the flange to the shaft; no pre-tensioning or any of that other technical stuff. "