xxxtreme22r

unless you removed the LCA'S and/or the CV shafts, the diff will not completely drop form the truck, it will drop to where the cv shafts will rest on the lca, should drop it almost two inches I believe.

92 TOY

if that's true, and thats what you did, seems like that should be enough, eh?

92 TOY

If I'm not wrong, seems like I am step 4 of this post by ALLCAMMEDUP

Everyone,

I'm in the process of doing a new head/cam/etc./etc. to my 89 4WD PU. The motor is a rebuilt 22RE that had less than 600 miles on it when the headgasket blew.

One thing led to another, and after I wound up cracking the old head by overtightening some header bolts (part of the reason the gasket blew, I believe) .... :pat:

I decided it was time to put a new head and cam on from engnbldr.com and a host of other mods.

I decided not to pull the engine again, so I was left with getting the oil pan out by hand. I decided I had to remove the oil pan in order to remove some of the gunk (coolant) that got in there when the head gasket blew. I wound up doing a bit of research on the process and determined that it was going to be a bit of a job, as the 'right' way to do the job is to move some of the front end to get the pan out. I went through the process in a day and I wanted to share it w/ everyone in hopes this will help someone else out sometime down the road.

1. Jack up the truck and put it on jack stands and then put the jack under the front diff.

2. Remove the 4 bolts from the swaybar that runs under the transfer case/tranny and front drive shaft and let the sway bar hang down and out of the way. This has to be lowered to give the differential enough room to drop.

3. Remove the front crossmember (5 bolts). 4 of the bolts are facing you laying down in front of the truck and the 5th bolt is in the huge mounting grommet on the front differential.

4. Remove the 2 bolts from each of the remaining 2 front differential mounts and lower the front diff about a good 6-8 inches by lowering the jack. The first 2 bolts are to the right of the front diff (facing it) and are by the driver's side CV boot. The other 2 are 'behind' the face of the differential and mount the top of the diff to a huge mounting braket on the passenger side. You'll get to these by going behind the diff under the truck. They are close to the passenger-side swaybar grommet. Kind of go 'up and over' the back of the front diff and you'll find them.

5. At this point, the front diff is lowered a good bit and, assuming you've unbolted the oil pan, it will move around really well, but still won't come out.

92 TOY

I sprayed PB Blaster on the tops of those mounts, you can actually see them from the engine bay....a bonus, since it's all crammed in there soooooooo well.

92 TOY

step 6 will hopefully be unnecessary.....but I'm sure I will have to friggin do it.

6. Unbolt the steering dampener (1 bolt) and let it drop out of the way. The dampner looks like a small black shock absorber that attaches to the steering relay rod. The relay rod is the rod that is attached to the pittman arm (driver's side) and the idler arm (passenger side).

7. I had to run out to Autozone to get a ball-joint separator so I could pull the relay rod off of the pitman rod end. Get a small screw-type seperator and not a wedge type so you won't tear up the rubber seals. Once I did that, the relay rod would swing down and out of the way, and I was then able to pull the pan out of the front (it won't come out of the rear, as you would think).

8. Oh yeah, I also had to unbolt the oil pump pickup tube (4 bolts) and let it drop into the pan. After that, the pan comes right out.

92 TOY

I'm super sore from working on it the other night.......with it up on stands the oil pan bolts are far from arms length away so I put a few extensions on the socket wrench....but those last 4 oil pan bolts on the passenger's side are blocked by the diff.....bastards!!

xxxtreme22r

i didnt pull the relay rod from the pitman, but i did remove the steering damper. Yes I did it this way twice. once with the vehicle sitting on all 4's on the ground without the engine on a jack. 10mm open end wrench to get those others out, tedious though.

xxxtreme22r

I'm in the middle of putting Bilstein's in all 4 corners of the BMW then I got to make a plywood table for the mother-in-law's stained glass. Otherwise I woulda been down there already.

92 TOY

copied and pasted (in red) from the HOW TO thread

Ok so here we are.....


took the 2 mounts off......yes, I had to use the breaker bar to loosen them and the put same breaker bar on the nuts on top of the mounts to hold them still and the took the 2 mounts off.

the diff came down, alot, with an uncomfortable twist to it as it was coming down, but all is good.

was able to access the rest of the oil pan bolts now and get them off and the the pan broke free with just a little push........HOWEVER...it was hung-up as promised by the oil tube....4 bolts and alot of contorting of my body and i was able to get them off and actually remove the tube........the PAN . however is pinned in there , as promised...can actually turn the pan almost completely around by not enough movement to get the pan out.

unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to do step 7 of ALLCAMMEDUP's instructions.

92 TOY

this picture pretty much says it all.

I guess this is my truck's equivalent of me breathing through a coffee stirrer



and just a pic of the pan




BREAK TIME!!!

92 TOY

guess I'm going to do these steps...already have the steering dampner out of the way though

6. Unbolt the steering dampener (1 bolt) and let it drop out of the way. The dampner looks like a small black shock absorber that attaches to the steering relay rod. The relay rod is the rod that is attached to the pittman arm (driver's side) and the idler arm (passenger side).

7. I had to run out to Autozone to get a ball-joint separator so I could pull the relay rod off of the pitman rod end. Get a small screw-type seperator and not a wedge type so you won't tear up the rubber seals. Once I did that, the relay rod would swing down and out of the way, and I was then able to pull the pan out of the front (it won't come out of the rear, as you would think).

xxxtreme22r

just takes alot of wiggling it will come out. are you trying to take it out through the front or the back?

92 TOY

like I said , I had the thing almost completely turned around but it always remained bound.

I'll open the garage door.....feel free......that way you don't have to pull the door off again...

92 TOY

OK..showered up...getting ready to go on a run to ??AUTO ZONE / ADVANCE AUTO??? to get a ball joint separator...screw type.

suggestions for getting the goop off that screen.........?????......

xxxtreme22r

rear shocks done now for the fronts haha.

xxxtreme22r

better check before you go, last time I had to buy and order one from napa. that was only a few months ago when i redid the bmw front suspension. If you can't find one let me know, I have two pickle forks and a screw type.

92 TOY

92 TOY

OK...but heading west to Buckhorn Wal-Mart 1st then Bloomsburg Auto zone and advance auto.

Holy hell those oil-pickup-tubes are like $140 new....YIKES!

xxxtreme22r

I cleaned mine by giving it to the machine shop, dipped it with the block. If your not in a hurry to get it back in, (hmmm.....lol....) We got a sonic cleaner at work I can ask the guys if they mind putting it in for me.

92 TOY

bought a puller, hope this will do the trick. gonna head back out in about a hour or 2