I recently replaced the engine oil pan on my 2001 Durango 4WD w/ the 4.7. The oil pan was looking very rusty and I was worried that it might start leaking over the winter. I live in the Cleveland, OH, so rust progresses at an alarming rate. I was hesitant to do this job because I thought the manual made the job seem easier than it was in reality. I also couldn't find any postings online where someone else had actually done the job. All I kept finding were people posting the same info that's in the repair manual or people saying "it's really hard because the front axle has to come out."

I decided to go ahead and give it a shot, with few a few concerns:

A) I didn't think there was enough space to actually get the oil pan to come out after the front axle was removed. I asked a Dodge mechanic and he reassured me that there was enough room. My concern was that I would have to disconnect the exhaust pipes from the manifolds, the bolts looked as if they'd break before unscrewing.

B) The oil pan bolts were very rusty. I was worried that a few would break off and I wouldn't be able to get the broken portion out of the block.

C) The Dodge mechanic told me that I would have to remove the pan bolts, lower the pan slightly, and reach in with a gearwrench to remove the oil pickup tube bolts. Then I would need to drop the pickup tube into the pan before I would have enough range of motion to remove the pan. I was worried that I'd do this and still not be able to remove the pan. Then I'd be stuck if I couldn't reattach the pickup tube.

D) I've been reading for years about Chrysler 4.7 engines and their sludge problems. I thought I might see a bunch of sludge built up in the bottom of the old pan. Then, even if I could replace the pan, I'd be worried that the engine would be on its way out soon.

This is what I did:

Jacked up the Durango, placed it on jackstands, removed the front tires.

Removed the plastic underpanel at the front end (the panel with the removable door for accessing the oil filter)

Then I started to work on removing the front axle. The first thing I did was to remove the four bolts that attach the front driveshaft to the pinion flange. I had my wife hold the brake pedal while I removed these.

Then I started removing the 6 bolts that hold the front axle in place. I loosened all of them first, in case I got stuck somewhere things would still be aligned enough to easily reassemble everything. The are four bolts that hold the axle assembly to the motor mounts (2 at each motor mount) and 2 bolts that attach the rear of the axle to a bracket that is bolted to the transmission. Don't forgot to unclip the axle breather hose which is clipped on to the battery tray.

Before I actually removed the loosened bolts, I went ahead and tried to disconnect the CV axles from the axle centersection. This is where things weren't going as specified in the repair manual. I was able to use a wood block and a hammer to pop the CV axles from the centersection. The problem was that there didn't seem to be enough range of motion to pull the axles out where I could swing them out and away from the axle centersection. I kept trying to get the CV axles out for about an hour, it seemed to me that the CV axles had a stub that went into the axle centersection, unlike what was shown in the manual. I had no other options, so I removed the driver's side brake and wheel bearing assembly and popped out the upper balljoint and tie rod from the spindle. This gave me enough room to remove the driver's side CV axle. It had a stub shaft that went about 4 inches into the axle centersection. There was no way I was going to have enough remove to pull the CV axle out without disconnecting the ball joint/tie rod and removing the wheel bearing.

As for the passenger's side CV axle, I removed the hub nut at the wheel bearing and then removed the front axle centersection with the CV axle still attached. I had to disconnect the lower end of the passenger's side shock absorber in order to be able to slide the CV axle out of the wheel bearing while it was still attached to the centersection. This post has a pic attached that shows the front axle after it was removed.

The front axle assembly was out. Aside from the setback with the CV axles, it was pretty straightforward. I then removed the structural cover at the rear of the engine block. It's an aluminum brace that attaches the engine block to the front of the transmission (also acts as the lower flywheel cover). This was straightforward, but you have to make sure to look in the manual to see the specific sequence in which you should remove/retorque the bolts, otherwise you might crack the structural cover.

Now I was at the pan, I just needed to remove the pan bolts and hope for the best. All of the bolts came out without a problem, they must be high quality bolts. I really feared that a few would break. With all of the pan bolts out, the pan wouldn't budge. I hit it with a hammer, still nothing. I was able to tap a gasket scraper with a hammer and wedge it in between the pan and gasket to help break the seal. Remember to wedge the scraper in between the gasket and pan NOT the gasket and block, you'll understand why in a moment. I was able to go around most of the pan with the scraper to break the seal, I wasn't able to get at the rear of the pan right away. The pan seemed to be coming down at the front and side, but the back wouldn't budge. It actually seemed like there was something inside the pan pulling it upwards. Every time I pulled down, the pan would spring back up. It turns out that since the pan gasket has a windage tray built in, and the windage tray is bolted to the inside of the block, the rear of the gasket still being "glued" to the pan was causing the pan to spring back up. This is why I said earlier to break the seal between the pan and gasket and NOT the gasket and the block. I kept working with the scraper to break the seal at the rear of the pan. Once I finally worked the scraper all of the way around the back of the pan, I was able to lower the pan a few inches.

Immediately I noticed there was no way I was going to have enough room to reach into the pan to remove the oil pickup tube bolts. Also, I noticed that I could drop the rear of the pan, but there wasn't enough clearance to slide it out past the transmission. I think I would have only needed it to drop another 1/4" or 1/2" to get it to slide out, but there just wasn't enough range of motion. I noticed that the front of the pan was being held up by the rack and pinion. I removed the 2 large bolts that attach the rack and pinion to the frame (it did not affect the alignment) and the rack hung down far enough that I was easily able to slide the pan out, leaving the pickup tube and windage tray in place. This was a good feeling. This post has a pic attached where you can see the two bolts that hold the rack and pinion to the frame. Notice the shiny new pan installed.

I removed the pickup tube, it's just held in place by a few nuts and a bolt, and then the windage tray/pan gasket came off. I cleaned the block mating surface with some brake cleaner and a rag then positioned the new windage tray/pan gasket and reinstalled the pickup tube, making sure to install the new pickup tube o-ring that came with the gasket. This was straightforward, I just made sure that the bolt holes in the windage tray/pan gasket were lined up with the holes in the block before I torqued down the pickup tube nuts/bolt. I cleaned up the oil pan bolts with a wirewheel grinder, they looked great. I was able to reinstall the pan without a problem. I can honestly say that reassembly was just the reverse of the removal process (just make sure to torque everything to spec and remember to follow the torque sequence for the structural cover bolts).

I decided to change the axle shaft seals on the front axle centersection while I had it out. They looked chewed-up for whatever reason, so I figured this would be a good time to replace them. I picked up two from the dealer (about $12 each) and tapped them in easily using a hammer and an old bearing race I had lying around. I also drained the differential oil by removing the fill plug and holding the axle over a drain pan. I figured this would be a good time to change the oil, plus I could do it without taking the diff cover off. I refilled it after I had the axle mounted back in place.

I had to remove the passenger's side CV axle to replace the seal on that side, I wasn't expecting what I saw here. When I popped out the CV axle, the stub shaft on this one was over a foot long. I looked for pics online, in the repair manual, and even called the dealer to ask about this. I guess what had happened on both sides of the axle was that the CV axles had become seized onto the shafts that run from the differential to the CV axle. Since the shafts are only held in place by spring clips on both ends (at the diff and at the CV axle) the clip at the diff released when I tried to remove the CV axle. This is why I didn't have enough room to remove the CV axle easily, like it showed in the manual. I guess this isn't a big deal, I'm glad I found out now in case I ever need to replace one of the CV axles. This post has pics of both CV axles with the axle shafts stuck into them.

One neat thing I noticed was that there was no sludge in the oil pan, it was clean with just a film of oil left on all the surfaces. The engine has almost 180K miles, so I felt pretty reassured that the previous owner had kept up on the oil changes. I did also notice that the inside of the pan looked perfect, so I wonder if I really even needed to replace the pan. The outside looked pretty bad, so I'm glad I did it, because I have a feeling it would have started leaking in the middle of winter had I left it alone. Now I have piece of mind. This post has a pic attached of the inside/outside of the pan.

I guess that's it. As I said previously, I thought the rusty oil pan looked pretty bad so I wanted to change it before winter. I considered paying someone to do the work, because of my worries mentioned above. But, the dealer wanted $700 for labor alone and another place I called said they could do it for $650 including the pan and gasket. I'm old fashioned and thought that sounded like a lot of money, so I found a $50 off coupon for any order over $100 on the Advance Auto Parts website and ordered the pan and gasket for about $80. It took me about 12 hours to get this done, but I'm glad I did it. It was time consuming but not very difficult. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

-Alberto Santana

 

Nice write up Alberto. Wow you did have some rust.

 

damn, the outside of that pan looks bad,

nice write up

just one comment, the sludge issues that you are hearing about are all myths, urban legends, w/e you want to call it, there is only ONE reason for sludge and that is lack of maintenance. There is nothing in the engine itself to cause sludge. (not trying to sound like a dick here, just trying to explain)

 

Hey shrpshtr325, I agree with you 100%. I think people decide it's ok to skip on oil changes and then they blame the engine for having a poor design. I figure for the $13 it costs me, I can go ahead ahead and change the oil every 3 months ( I rarely even make it to 3K miles) and my engines last forever. BTW, I noticed you were in Hoboken. I've been there many times, I was born and raised in Paterson, NJ.

 

yea im a senior at Stevens Institute, im actually at home right now, so not in hoboken, but ill be back in January.

and i feel that you are even more OCD than myself, i change my oil every 5k miles and no signs of sludge no oil pressure problems nothing abnormal going on, and after 100k miles something would have shown up even if only in small ways.

 

Awesome you took the time to do this,Nice write up Alberto..

 

I would have replaced the oil pump while I was in there, but other then that great write up I must say!

 

on a 4.7 thats a hell of alot more work. remove all the front end stuff, remove the timing cover, remove the valve covers, remove all timing chains, THEN you can remove the pump assuming you already have the oil pan and pickup tube off. the oil pump is wraped around the front of the crank and directly driven by the crank.

 

I forgot about that on the 4.7L, you are correct.

On the 5.9L and 5.2L the oil pump is a simple bolt on with an oil pump pickup tube clasp and is driven by the camshaft via the same gearing as the distributor. So on those motors I would have replace the oil pump, but again I can see why you didn't on the 4.7L.

 

Yeah it is a lot more work.Adding the pump would have been nice but what,another 6 hours or so of work? Still a job well done...