Transmission filter change with Roughcountry long-arms

Trying to change my automatic transmission filter for the first time since installing Roughcountry's long-arms. Has anyone done this and have advice. Is there any way to do it without pulling off the cross member? If I do need to pull the cross member, is there a good method that doesn't require disassembling the entire thing?

word of advise.. dont...
or at least over the next year swap out your trans fluid 2 quarts at a time and then change the filter. the AW4 hates complete fluid changes and considering its been over ten years since the last XJ was built and and average of 30K is put on a vehicle a year your car has at least 150K on it so just... DONT

I'm one that dosen't agree with that. I flushed my jeep at 120K and 140k with no issues.
A proper machine that hooks inline and runs off the trans pump is perfectly fine IMO.

Fluid changes will not hurt a non abused,worn out tranny no matter the age or miles. if you think the filter has never been changed and you want to replace that and the pan gasket ,then yes you have to drop the cross member. otherwise just drain the pan and refill.
removing the cross member is a bit of work/time. if you can tell the pan has been removed before then more than likely they replaced the filter. so your call.

whitexj98 said:

I'm one that dosen't agree with that. I flushed my jeep at 120K and 140k with no issues.
A proper machine that hooks inline and runs off the trans pump is perfectly fine IMO.

Click to expand...

X2
Flushed mine twice with over 100,xxx miles on the aw4 and no issues yet. But the first time i flushed it sounded like the torque converter was making some noise; went away.