Im sure this has been addressed a thousand times, but figured I'd just ask. Okay so my rear main seal on my 98 2500 5.9 360 is leaking but, my question is about replacing it. I have seen for some vehicles the tranny has to be removed. Is this the case with the ram? Or is just take the oil pan off and take the pickup off and then you have access? Any help is much appreciated or if anyone has a write up that would be great. Thanks!

 

If your truck is a 4x4, you can drop the pan without lifting the motor.

Disconnect battery.
Remove starter.
Remove trans braces.
Remove splash shield on bellhousing.
remove ten million bolts on the oil pan..... Drop it down, pull it out. (good idea to drain the oil first.....)
Remove oil pump. (since you are in there, might just as well replace it too....)
Remove rear main cap. Bottom half of seal is there.
You *might* be able to drive the top half of the seal out, but, don't hold your breath. Loosening up a few more of the main caps will help a bit. Don't mar the surface of the crank when trying to remove it though......

 

Thanks theres a lot of oil on the underside of my truck like coming down the back of oil pan, on bell housing, on front drive shaft on startet and some other place I assume if its getting on drive shaft it being thrown around from that point...

 

Get a new oil pan gasket as well......

Clean things off good, so, if you have any subsequent leaks, you can find where its coming from.

 

Yea was gonna change oil pan gasket since I have to remove it anyways...just roughly how long would you say this job takes?

 

Bear in mind I have had a bit of practice, but, I can R&R the oil pan in about two hours. And that includes cleaning things, and cleaning up afterwards.

I don't even need to jack my truck up though. Plenty of room just sitting there normally.

 

Don't remove wires from the starter, just remove and tie it out of the way over by the frame. It saves time and hassle.
If you need or want more room, jack it up, put jack stands under the frame rails and let the axle hang.

 

I have an '02 1500 two wheel drive with a 5.9. I had the same problem as you. I was adding a quart of oil every three weeks. Did the change pretty much exactly like HeyYou said, except with a two wheel drive, I have no idea how you could get the oil pan off with out loosening the engine mounts up and jacking the engine up first. Be REAL careful with this. God allowed me to keep the fingers on my left hand when the blocks I was using to hold the engine up slipped. Be sure to retorque ALL of the main caps once you have the new main seal in. +1 to the new oil pump. My oil pressure jumped way up and is very consistent in pressure now. My pick up tube was freakishly clean. Dang replacement tube was as much as the oil pump! Returned the new one and bought some good beer with the extra money! There are various tips to make reinstalling the oil pan a sinch. I used the fishing line idea. You use this to hold the gasket in place while getting all of those dang bolts back in. Don't be worried about doing this fix, I'm a knucklehead and was able to do it. Start to end it took me about seven hours. I cleaned the crap out of the oil pan and everything else though. Have RTV and an anaerobic seal maker for around the rear main seal area. Locktite makes some. It's red in color, but don't confuse it with red locktite, that crap will bond stuff together through eternity. Read more on it, there is LOTS of help here on this Forumn and other places. HeyYou in particular has been a great help to me without knowing it, listen to him, I don't know where he gets his knowledge, but he has got it.

 

You can replace both top and bottom rear main seals with the tranny attatched but it's a PITA and not easy.

 

What do the main caps get torqued down too?