I pulled the tranny pan today so that I could change the filter.
It went about as I expected, ATF in my hair, face, hands and arms up to my elbows.
Pretty smooth actually.
Then, it was time to put the pan back on.
It came out.
It has to go back in, but it's fighting me.
At first it hung up on the end of the skid plate.
I loosened that up and got it out of the way.
Now, it is hanging up on the frame cross member.
And it looks as if I can get it by the cross member it'll then hang up on the exhaust cross over pipe.

I am tired.
It has been a long day.
I decided to quit working on it before I took a 20# hammer to it.
I'll probably be more patient in the morning.

So, in the mean time, is there a trick that will make it go in easier?

 

Well, when I dropped mine last fall it went right back up... But I'm 2wd with no skid plates or anything.

Did you try angling in and sort of twisting it around? Could you just take off the skid plate to make things easier (assuming the bolts aren't rusted too bad)? Also, be sure that you put some ATF in your trans filter if you replaced that... I made the mistake of not doing that and was dealing with rough shifting for awhile.

 

Thanks dirtbiker,
I think the trick is to get a night's sleep, get rested up and try it again.
The first thing I did this morning is to try to put it in turned 90°.
It wouldn't fit, just like it wouldn't fit last night.
After turning it so that it was correctly oriented, it slipped right in without any problem.
Kinda makes me feel like a dufus.