Oil Pan Gasket

My oil pan had been leaking at the front... I had been keeping an eye on it and adding oil when needed. As it continued to get worse I decided I needed to make time to do it. I was not looking forward to it, but it ended up not being too bad.

First, using two jacks under the axle I jacked up the vehicle until I thought I could get enough room between the axle and engine. I place two jack stands at the front of the vehicle, took off the tires and lowered the axle as far as it would go. I still had my sway bar and shocks connected.

I removed the drag link from the pitman arm as well to gain some clearance. I could have dropped the sway bar as well but was able to do it with it still in place.

I also unbolted the exhaust at the collector (leaving manifold attached to the engine). I was lucky and did not break any bolts though it all looked pretty rusty.

Next I drained the oil and removed the filter and dropped the pan. 4 of the 14 bolts are a different size. There are 1 at each "corner" in the rear they are the two last bolts on each side, in the front they are the 2nd bolt back on the sides not counting the two in the very front.

While the pan is out it is a good time to clean in if it has been leaking for some time like mine was. It would also be a good time to replace the oil pump, I did not as I did not have the extra $$.

Clean the mounting area on the pan and the engine.

While trying to put the pan and gasket back in I put 4 nuts and bolts at the "corners" to hold the gasket to the pan. This helped a lot and once the pan is in place you can remove the bolts and bolt the pan to the engine and button everything else back up.

It took me a few hours as it was my first time, but feel I could get it knocked out pretty quickly if I had to do it again. I took a lot of time to make sure the vehicle was secured since you are laying under there with very little to catch the vehicle if it should slip off the jack stands.

I hope this helps someone....sorry no pictures. I was by myself and covered in oil.

By the way... you will need a 11mm and 13mm sockets.

sounds like you did it very well.