i was about to do an oil change on the truck and stopped because i got to thinking.

i ordered new motor mounts from napa and they had to be shipped from another location.

my question is, while im swapping the motor mounts will the front diff drop low enough to get the oil pan out so i can install a new oil pan gasket. i plan on using my engine lift from the side of the truck thinking i should have enough room to pull the oil pan out to clean before installing the new oil pan gasket.

 

In my honest opinion, I think you're asking for a headache doing it that way. I say that because you will have to remove the tranmission to pull the engine far enough upward to get the pan off. The front differential is a lot easier to remove than the transmission, and you can just simply drop it down out of the way and not have to worry about it. IIRC, you also need to remove the drag link from the steering to get the oil pan out.

Also, if you have the money, replace the oil pump and rear main seal while you're at it! Neither of those two things cost too much and if you're going to go through the effort of dropping the oil pan, you should go ahead and knock them out.

 

Ain't that the troof. do as the man said. knock those out so you dont have to do the job twice. and if you need help a second time with that, Ill be

 

i planned on doing the oil pump anyways. for some reason i thought the rear main seal was a 1 piece.

since it is a 2 piece ill do that also.

one piece oil pan gasket, oil pump and the rear main seal will be another $80. so no biggie.

 

I lifted the 5.2 in my Dakota to replace the oil pan gasket without removing the transmission. The only extra thing I can remember removing was the distributor. It can be done. I did it in the garage with a 2 ton pulley.

 

has anyone dropped the pan in a 2 wheel drive? any tips on gettin to it pretty easy?