Good evening. I grew up working on vehicles, but a career in the Army took me a different path. Now 62, I recently bought a 1997 TJ (2.5, Auto) to have a 4WD for light four-wheeling in a nearby hunting area. The guy I bought it from had not had it long before a medical problem forced him to sell some "toys" he really couldn't use any more. However, he the second owner, and was pretty much clueless on even basic maintenance. So, I reacquainted myself with the belly of a 4WD again, starting with plugs and wires, the fluids...oil and filter, coolant flush and change, front and rear differential fluids, transfer case fluid, etc. Then the not so fun one...the transmission filter and fluid, the first part of which was the x#(%&% skid plate. When I did it, there had been no evidence of any transmission fluid leakage at the pan. Put a Purlator filter in it, and installed the cork gasket that came with the filter. Unfortunately, as I carefully put the pan back on, torqued the bolts to 13ft lbs using the cross-pan diagonal pattern of tightening them, and was ready to refill the tranny, I saw that I had left the magnetic donut out. So, back off came the pan trying very hard not to damage the gasket. In went the donut, and I reinstalled the pan the same way and again retorqued the pan bolts to spec. Then the fun part of reinstalling the skid plate by myself using a floor jack and a lot of effort. Then a couple of days later I noticed a few drops of AT fluid on the driveway. I got under it and it appeared that it was either leaking at the bolts or from the gasket on the rear of the pan. I took a ratchet and 1/2 inch socket and checked the bolts and was surprised that several of them were loose. Strange, and not something I had experienced on any other transmission filter swap out over the years. So, I tightened them again. Same pattern. They seem to back out due to vibration or something. Finally I decided I must have damaged the gasket when I had to take the pan back off to install the magnetic donut. So, I did the job again. Stopped at a different auto parts store and this filter came with a rubber gasket. So, dropped the skid plate (hating it by now), loosened the pan bolts, drained the fluid once I broke the seal, and once again replaced the filter, cleaned out the pan, cleaned off the donut (it didn't have any fine metal on it yet), placed the gasket and bolts, and then reinstalled the pan....again, and again torqued it to 13 ft lbs. All was good. I refilled the tranny (again) with Castrol synthetic ATF +4 and then reinstalled the skid plate. Took it for a short drive to warm it up, checked the fluid level with it in neutral, and everything seemed fine. No leaks at all. I took it turkey hunting the next day with no problems. Came back and parked it in the driveway. When I got up to go to work the next morning, noticed a small amount of fluid on the driveway. I left for work really puzzled. Came home that afternoon, crawled under it, and once again it seems to be leaking around the bolts or from the gasket and running down onto several of the bolts. I got the ratchet again and found that several of the bolts had again loosened up. I am stumped. I checked each of the bolts and none of the thread was stripped, now did any of them spin loosely in the transmission body when I reinstalled them. They tightened up fine and I took all of them to the specified torque setting, so I know they all were tight. I have done this in the past with IH Scouts, Buick cars, Chevy trucks, and recently a Ford F-150, and never have had this problem on any of them. Am I missing something, and what do I try next, besides once again dropping skid plate and pan and putting a new gasket on the pan? Thanks. Glenn, San Antonio