I've been a long time lurker here and appreciate all the contributions and guides from everyone.

I have a 2005 Escalade 6.0 AWD and I am trying to install a corvette servo. I bought one already pre-assembled since I figured I had minimal tools and equipment now and I wanted to make it as easy as possible. I finally got the stock one out after I pulled the bolts to the cross member and let the transmission hang down a little, but when I put it in and tried to pry on it a little as suggested I can tell the cover isnt going down far enough to expose the indention for the retaining ring to seat into so it appears it isn't going in far enough and I have put a lot of pressure on it. So I figured something is wrong and when I try to pull it back out it won't come out. I can rotate the cover (not sure if I am just rotating the cover or the whole assembly inside as well) so it dosen't seem like something is stuck. I know in the install instructions it says to remove the stock one you have to use a pick to pull the o-ring out and basically pull and rip it out before the cover will come out of the transmission.

So it seems like somehow its a one time deal when you put it in? With all the clay and dirt under the truck I am worried I got dirt (or worse metal shavings from making drill holes in the body trying to make room to get the stock servo out)

I guess I can keep trying to pry and force the cover on but it still seems like its got a little ways to go before it uncovers the notch for the retaining ring so I am scared I am going to mess something up. Anyone else have trouble like this? Thanks for the help

 

Pretty sure that once the cover is on with the oring, you’ll have to use a pick to stretch the oring and cut it and pull it out before that cover comes off.

My biggest issue when I did that mod, was getting the snap ring back in.

I had to take a pry bar, put pressure on the servo and pop it in.

 

Thanks, yeah that what it seems like to me. From looking at previous threads it looks like everyone is having issues with it getting not coming out or not going on. It looks like I may just need more force, it just dosent feel right forcing it that hard. The bad part is I think I may have felt a small nick in the bore maybe from when I was pulling the stock one out and something hit the side of the bore.

The only thing I did was put some ATF on the o-rings and on the inside of the bore before I installed the new one, I saw something about vasoline but I didnt have any. How big of a pry bar did you have to use?

 

So I did some more research and it looks like some people have had issues where they didn't fully seat the retaining ring which caused uneven pressure and caused the transmission housing to crack during their first test drive.

I also found out there is a GM tool you are supposed to use J-29714-A to compress the servo cover so you can remove and install the retaining ring. So it appears to be it just simply required a lot of force and more importantly a lot of force that is evenly applied to the cover, using a pry bar make it easy to apply to much side force and not get it centered right.

I think I may just have to buy the $100+ tool off of ebay since i'm worried after reading all these other horror stories.

 

It does take a considerable amount of force to “pop” it past the snap ring groove. I use a 18-24” pry bar against the trans tunnel to push it in.

 

I did this 6-7 yrs ago. Sadly, I hammered my body instead of dropping the trans. Yeah I was that guy.

I recall using the handle of my dead blow to pry off the body onto the Servo cover and that worked well enough

I don't remember needing a ton of force tho. It was just a satisfying "thop" as it went in

 

Exactly..! I have done this swap a few times and always used a piece of 2x4 and tapped the board with a hammer until it seated, than you can get that annoying sanp ring in.

 

So I used a longer bar and got it to side in. However I am still worrying about the retaining ring not being fully seated. After messing with it for about 30 minutes I think I may have gotten it. But from sticking my camera up I'm the transmission tunnule it kind of looks like the top of the Ring isn't fully in the groove. The good news is I can spin the ring so that like of tells me it is fully seated since it seems like it wouldn't spin if it wasn't fully in the groove and it would just pop out when you tried to spin it. I guess I could go ahead and crank it up and use the scan tool to apply the solenoid to see what happens.

 

That looks good from my house!

 

Thanks, I think im going to crank it up and see what happends.