Yep, I’d seen the thread, thanks. Mine doesn’t have the tab. Bought it from the dealer matched to the vehicle's vin number.

It took me hours to get the transmission pan perfectly level. My garage floor slopes towards the driveway and slants left-right. Only the rear of the vehicle needed to be lifted but the rear driver side jack stand is higher than the passenger side. Mark the jackstands set height with permanent marker and which one goes to driver/passenger side so that you don't have to adjust all over again. There's sufficient space to fill/drain the transmission oil. To work on the transmission, I lift all four corners to an appropriate height and then level the trans again when it's time to fill her. Place a magnetic leveler right at the center of the transmission and level left-right, front-rear. The bubble should be dead center on both orientation when you're done adjusting the vehicle lift height.

Great! It looked to me from the fourth picture from the bottom in your original post that the new part has the tab... could just be the shadow. In any case, you know what to do if it doesn't fit properly :thumbup:

I feel your pain. It took us quite a while when we did mine the first time. I used a different approach: I used a 48" level on the front and rear bumpers and the sideboards. I had read somewhere that the transmission pan might not be exactly level, front to back, when the car sits on even ground. I didn't check this.

The second time, I had acquired a QuickJack which made it easy... not a solution for you with your uneven floor though :(

I agree the trans pan may not be level on even ground since the X5 slightly rakes to the front. But on a level lift where suspension is not engaged (wheels off the lift), the pan would be level. Yeah, placing my long leveler on the front bumper and rear bumper confirmed the car is level. I read somewhere the best is to verify the level on the transmission pan itself with the leveler placed in its center.

Here's a close-up of it. I inspected it with a magnifying glass, and it looks like the tab was cut off at the factory. I'm yet to drop the pan. Currently doing a drain/refill/drive and then drop the pan and complete the "surgery".

Yes, it does look like it was removed... maybe too many complaints and unnecessary.

We also removed the side flange, that's stamped with the 6HP..., that wasn't on the original part I had. It might be needed for you since yours is an '05 and mine an early '04 (10/03 build).

Buena suerte!

... one more piece of advice: Before putting on the valve body after replacing the seals and solenoids, make sure the white plastic sliding lock mechanism is moving properly (check it when you first take it out). It somehow got stuck when we put the valve body back, and we had to remove the valve body to fix it.

Full credit to my mechanic friend, RIP, for knowing how much force to apply before determining we needed to take it back out or risk breaking it.

Awesome, thanks for the heads-up :thumbup:.

The fancy $35 1.5L fluid extractor/dispenser automotive syringe broke. Returning it to Amazon and heading to Harbor Freight for the trusty cheapo $8 multi-use transfer pump. That one has never failed me, and I've learned my lesson trying to get fancy.