Brown trans fluid, drain and refill?

[KZOO3800]

I've changed my coolant recently and change my engine oil often, so its only natural that I closely watch my trans fluid.

I got the car 6K miles ago and the color was still red. It is now definitely turning light brown, wiping it on a napkin was all I had to do to see this.

Is it advisable to simply drain the old fluid out and put new fluid in?
I read a few other posts about people that advised dropping the pan to change the filter and clean some stuff up too. If I could that without special tools I'd like to, just can't find a post on how to do it.

Any advice would be awesome.

[FriboRage]

Click any image for a larger image

All that's really needed is a socket, a drain pan to catch the fluid (it's a big mess) and a few rags.

You'll also wanna replace the filter that sits just inside of the pan which can be a *****.

Now is when you want to catch it, light brown... it's when it gets dark and burnt that you should begin to worry.

[BillBoost37]

Once the car is jacked or on ramps. It's 20 10mm bolts. Reassemble with 10ft lbs aka 120 inch lbs of torque. nothing really special tool wise.

[KZOO3800]

I took the GP up to a trans place in my hometown, they did a full vehicle inspection, installed new filter, installed new gasket, and told me from what they can see the trans is in great shape. All for $100 too!