Replaced my driver's side axle last year, and had drained the automatic tranny before removing the axle as I was going to clean the pan and swap out for a vb mod at the same time.

Now it's time for the passenger side- not going do to anythign else while I'm in there this time- do I need to drain the tranny first? I've searched and searched, and I found a few threads where someone mentioned in passing that a few drops or even a small amount of fluid might leak out, but I haven't seen anyone mention explicitly NO, you don't need to drain the AT to remove the passenger side axle.

Any comments here? I don't want to have to drian the tranny, but I also don't want a gallon+ of AT fluid on my garage floor (though I guess I could put a pan underneath, I just don't want to be surprised).

Thanks all!

nope, atleast not on my 98 I30 LSD autotragic....the drivers side dripped a tad, the passengers was dry as a bone...

Great. Forgot to mention I had a 96 non-LSD. Thanks!

I had no issue with either axle on my dads 96 auto. Not one drip, on my 5 spd..... well i found out the hard way that it will pour out a qt. or 2.

No issues - it'll go dry. Had both replaced 2 weeks ago and fluid level never changed.

Thanks everyone!