T400 Pan?

[Bad Dawg]

It seems I have seen a deep th400 transmission pan that is "notched" on the front driveshaft side to give more clearance around the driveshaft in 4x4 rigs. Has anyone else seen such a pan? I have searched all the aftermarket sites I can think of and haven't found it. I'm running the th400 trans behind our 541 BB and a 205 transfer case. Thanks

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I built a pan as such for a TH350 on a Land Cruiser, we needed ~1/2" of clearance at the top and the customer didn't want to re-do his driveshaft. We looked for something commercially available, in the end I picked up a new pan from Parts Connection and uses a peice of sheet metal to patch it in. If a driveshaft mod isn't out of the question, Advance Adapters has high-clearance shaft, though I don't know what joint options or flange setups it can accomodate.

 

[Bad Dawg]

I was really hoping not to have to build a custom pan and hope the welding doesn't warp the mounting surface causing potential leaks. I could swear I saw an aftermarket pan someplace. Dang.

edit: Here is a shot showing how close it is for me. I always pull the front end off the ground on my launches and when it comes down it pushes the driveshaft up close to the pan. When rocks, get in there it turns into a rock crusher and really messes up the pan. I'm lucky it hasn't cracked the cast aluminum pan yet.

 

[Ohms]

It's been my limited experience that you are better off building as Kurt mentioned. It's not really all that tough. One small recommendation is know how to weld with thin material and your good to go. I just finished up an ungodly expensive pan that needed extensive work after a axle side link broke and the pan smashed into the diff. It was time consuming in the fact that it was .5-.75" smashed in like an accordian. Once the wrinkles were out, and the bottom of the pan was cut off, and the edges of all the hole were fairly square I made a 'jig' outta some thick flat material, marked where all the pan bolts were, drilled them all out on the jig. bolted the pan down snug, and put the patch pcs on. Dunno if you wanna go through That much work-but my buddy loved the finished result and very very little warpage. If the pan onlly needed clearancing it would have been a quick dealio. If that only confused you, feel free to give me a call!

 

[Tacoma]

I have a stock, brand new truck pan if you need it.

 

[Kiel]

For how much clearence you need, couldn't you just dolly it in about 1 inch. It looks like you really only need a little and you could just dent it in depending on the p/u and filter location.

 

[Tacoma]

eh, they tend to crumple and buckle rather than nicely dent in..... *shrug*

 

[Kiel]

eh, they tend to crumple and buckle rather than nicely dent in..... *shrug*

Clearence is clearence. Thats why they have that underwater jb weld

 

[Bad Dawg]

My current pan is a cast aluminum Hughs deep pan. I figure my options are going to all deal with another pan one way or the other. I don't weld aluminum so if I go the route of a fabricated aluminum pan I would have a friend here locally construct one for me. I don't think I can modify and weld on my Hughs cast pan. I could pick up a steel pan, either new or used, and modify it. I can weld steel but I'm not sure I trust my welding on a pan, I only have a Lincoln wire feed.

The easiest route is to discover an aftermarket pan already shaped the way I need it. I'm really suprised that I can't find what I need. My problem is not unique..the world is full of GM TH400 transmissions bolted to NP205's in 4x4's. I guess another option is to go back to a stock shallow pan...it clears fine.

Thanks for your ideas guys.