003 atf filter availability

[Danno5]

This is driving me nuts. I have gone through three ATF filters and haven't found one that fits yet.

My original transmission filter screen was shredded, so I added that to the rebuild parts list. I have made a thread just for the filter though because it seems to be a parts availability issue.

I have been through everything Rockauto has to offer for the 003 trans filter now. First, I got a Beck-Arnley. I go to put that on and the central hole for the screw is a little less than one mm too narrow so my screw doesn't fit. I asked rockauto to send another B-A just in case this was a fluke. The next one was exactly the same though. Next I send that one back and get a refund. I spent that refund on the other offering from rockauto, a pioneer brand filter. That third filter arrived today and has the exact same problem. The central hole is about 1/2-1mm too narrow to take the screw that goes into my valve body.

Where do you guys pick up these flippin' atf filters from?

[raygreenwood]

That kind of stuff happens with parts these days. If all else with the filter is correct....just ream that hole with a tapered reamer like this

https://www.ebay.com/i/302759366724?chn=ps

Ream the hole each side ...upside down next to a vacuum nozzle. It will be no issue.
Ray

[Danno5]

Thanks for the feedback Ray. I had thoughts of doing something like this, but I wanted to check with others to make sure first.

Dan

[raygreenwood]

[Danno5]

I realized I never posted the solution to this. I tried out the hand reamer and it worked, up to a point. The hole for the screw in the middle has a different style than the old part. I don't want to even look at it, much less post it right now, so words will have to suffice instead of a picture! It looks like a double-thickness metal washer that is pressed around the screen. After about 20 minutes of carefully removing metal from the inside of the washer with the hand reamer the frickin' thing just started to spin. NO problem I think! I have a spare! That one last 40 minutes and then began to spin. All with about 1/2 a mm to go for the screw to clear it without banging up the threads.

Well. I should have figured out a way to hold the little washer in place on the screen and finish reaming it, but I quit. I went one town north to a NAPA and asked them. They send out to someplace in Nevada and three days later in comes the perfect part that fits fine. No guarantees for anybody in the future, but at the moment NAPA, of all places, carries the ATF filter for our lovely old 003.