Got mine installed last night. One of the easiest jobs I've done. It's a mess no matter how you do it, but I bought a fluid extractor on amazon that made my life way easier/cleaner. I learned that the factory isn't good with fluid levels. The fill plug is supposed to mark your "full"; i pulled the fill plug on flat ground and scrambled as 1-2 quarts of skunked fluid poured out. Great way to start out.
Stuck the dipstick tube of the fluid extractor in the fill hole from over the top of the driveshaft to get the angle right to reach the bottom of the pan and extracted the old fluid. Pulled the factory heat-shield and all hardware leaving one bolt in front, one in the rear. One note, the 22 have a lot more 13mm bolts than their instructions call out; no big deal as i had the 13mm and 8mm out already, just worth noting.
Carefully removed the final two to find nearly nothing in the pan. Swapped the filter, installed the gasket into the Banks pan with the drain plug, 23+ fluid level check plug (of course, i waited their recommended 24 second Loctite cure-time before installing...), and 1/8" NPT port plug, then bolted the pan on. I don't have an inch/lb. torque wrench, so i used my MTB to hit 8NM vs. the 65 in.lb. spec. Seems stupid low, but it's on and sealed.
The instructions call for 12qt. to start, this netted me another fluid bath. I got 10 quarts in, then plugged it and drove hills until i got the temp to 200. Left it running in park and got 4 more quarts in. She's full of fresh fluid and happy and my entire block smells like ATF (guns back in your holsters, boys - I'm talking trans fluid). I'm pretty sure that's the least of my neighbor's concerns as i heard there was a very inconsiderate, large man in overalls, orange crocs and a headlamp idling his deleted truck and watering his front yard at 11pm "just because the hose was already out".
Last note. There's a plastic, threaded bracket that clips to one of the corner bolts on the stock pan and it is zip-tied to a wiring harness that runs around the front driveshaft - there's no accomodation on the banks pan to resecure this. Perfect test for my magnetic zip-tie mounts to the trans crossmember.
Overall, I'm SUPER impressed with this thing. It takes a lot to impress me from a quality standpoint, but the refinement and attention to detail is second to none. The design is thought out and fits perfect; the gasket is perfect and super satisfying to install - there are two indexes and every bolt hole is aligned with the curvature of the molded gasket as you press it in. It may seem stupid, but as a manufacturer, i know the attention and persistence it took even to get this gasket to be this nice.
The hardware is ARP to secure the pan to the case; the hardware that isn't ARP appears to be custom - I'd guess 17-4 stainless for the drain plug bolt? Beautifully machined, as is the secondary fluid level bolt. Loctite is provided, which was nice as i was out of Red, only had blue. The scoop is well though out with the engineered break point should it get caught on something, and i love that it uses the same hardware (with the addition of nice, billet washers) as the pan so you're not scrounging through all the hardware trying to find the 4 different length bolts hoping you didn't accidentally use them somewhere in the pan/case interface.
Not sure why they're not happy with the aluminum, but I'm THRILLED with my pan and to have a drain plug for the next service. It was recommended to follow a 35K drain/fill and filter change at 70K, so i won't need to pull it until 140K now.
Any questions or picture requests, just hit me up, but I absolutely think this thing's worth the wait.
Stuck the dipstick tube of the fluid extractor in the fill hole from over the top of the driveshaft to get the angle right to reach the bottom of the pan and extracted the old fluid. Pulled the factory heat-shield and all hardware leaving one bolt in front, one in the rear. One note, the 22 have a lot more 13mm bolts than their instructions call out; no big deal as i had the 13mm and 8mm out already, just worth noting.
Carefully removed the final two to find nearly nothing in the pan. Swapped the filter, installed the gasket into the Banks pan with the drain plug, 23+ fluid level check plug (of course, i waited their recommended 24 second Loctite cure-time before installing...), and 1/8" NPT port plug, then bolted the pan on. I don't have an inch/lb. torque wrench, so i used my MTB to hit 8NM vs. the 65 in.lb. spec. Seems stupid low, but it's on and sealed.
The instructions call for 12qt. to start, this netted me another fluid bath. I got 10 quarts in, then plugged it and drove hills until i got the temp to 200. Left it running in park and got 4 more quarts in. She's full of fresh fluid and happy and my entire block smells like ATF (guns back in your holsters, boys - I'm talking trans fluid). I'm pretty sure that's the least of my neighbor's concerns as i heard there was a very inconsiderate, large man in overalls, orange crocs and a headlamp idling his deleted truck and watering his front yard at 11pm "just because the hose was already out".
Last note. There's a plastic, threaded bracket that clips to one of the corner bolts on the stock pan and it is zip-tied to a wiring harness that runs around the front driveshaft - there's no accomodation on the banks pan to resecure this. Perfect test for my magnetic zip-tie mounts to the trans crossmember.
Overall, I'm SUPER impressed with this thing. It takes a lot to impress me from a quality standpoint, but the refinement and attention to detail is second to none. The design is thought out and fits perfect; the gasket is perfect and super satisfying to install - there are two indexes and every bolt hole is aligned with the curvature of the molded gasket as you press it in. It may seem stupid, but as a manufacturer, i know the attention and persistence it took even to get this gasket to be this nice.
The hardware is ARP to secure the pan to the case; the hardware that isn't ARP appears to be custom - I'd guess 17-4 stainless for the drain plug bolt? Beautifully machined, as is the secondary fluid level bolt. Loctite is provided, which was nice as i was out of Red, only had blue. The scoop is well though out with the engineered break point should it get caught on something, and i love that it uses the same hardware (with the addition of nice, billet washers) as the pan so you're not scrounging through all the hardware trying to find the 4 different length bolts hoping you didn't accidentally use them somewhere in the pan/case interface.
Not sure why they're not happy with the aluminum, but I'm THRILLED with my pan and to have a drain plug for the next service. It was recommended to follow a 35K drain/fill and filter change at 70K, so i won't need to pull it until 140K now.
Any questions or picture requests, just hit me up, but I absolutely think this thing's worth the wait.
