Oil pan replacement questions

Afishinado

Afishinado

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Joined
May 29, 2018
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19
Location
Florida & South Dakota
Having a bit of stuff done to my TJ this winter while I'm back in the tropics. Putting in 4:10 gears, lockers, front & rear and thinking of having the oil pan replaced. Mostly a peace of mind thing, was on some rocky trails yesterday, and it bothered me. It's beat up pretty bad, I use a pump to change the oil as I am afraid to put a wrench on the drain plug. I'm into this winters Jeep toy fund for $3600, reaching the self imposed pain threshold for the year. So my question is simple actually, is it easy to change the pan by dropping the exhaust pipe, or does *the mechanic need to lift the engine?
Oh, its the 4.0 automatic 1997...

*I swore off using my creeper when I turned 70
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The engine shouldn’t have to be lifted. I have and ‘06 and I know the exhaust is different than your ’97. I’m not sure if yours will have to have the down pipe completely removed or just lowered. We completely removed mine and the hardest part was getting the nuts loose where the down pipe connects to the exhaust manifold. My Jeep has spent all its life in the south with no road salts. If SD uses road salt you may have difficulty too.

We tried a couple off the shelf penetrating sprays like PB Blaster and it didn’t help at all. We mixed 50/50 acetone and automatic transmission fluid and sprayed some on the hardware late one night. The next morning they all broke loose easily. Like they weren’t even tightened.
 
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You also might want to look into an engine skid if you think damage like that will be a regular thing.
 
Just had to remove mine twice recently. Just make sure to get a good gasket, and use a torque wrench when reinstalling the bolts. It’s easier to snap them off in the block than you might think.

Do the rear main seal while you’re there, and maybe the oil pump. I put in the Melling High Volume oil pump to get a bit more flow at idle.

Dropping the exhaust makes it 10x easier. You can usually drop the exhaust without removing the transfer case skid, but put the car high on jack stands so you can actually maneuver it out of there.

Be ready for the nut clips for the manifold to catalytic converter bolts to give up the ghost. Might be worth having a new bolt and nut kit ready.
 
If you do a whole lot of off-camber driving, Moroso makes an expanded and baffled oil pan that significantly reduces the odds of running the sump dry due to an incline. It isn’t cheap though.

Consider a Fumoto valve as well. Makes oil changes 10x easier.
 
If that was my drain plug I wouldn't worry about it. It doesn't even look like you damaged the rubber section of the drain plug. To each his own. I'd remove it and see how the surface looks then just get a new plug and go with it.
 
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