Anyone know if you can pull the oil pan off a first gen 4 cylinder montero without pulling the engine?

I'm pretty sure you can. I've pulled the pan on a 3.0. You need to unbolt the rearmost diff carrier bolts and let the diff pivot down and forward, and probably remove the center link from the steering.

Why do you need to drop it?

2 reasons, 1, I didnt realize the dipstick went through the block on a montero engine when I did my turbo swap, so I need to pull the pan to punch out that plug in the block, and second, I need to change out my pickup tube after I cut it thinking it had to be extended, but in the end I welded it back up stock, but there must be some pinhole leaks as I gotta rev it a bit at startup to get it to build any oil pressure, but once it builds it's fine. I figure that its probably pinholes in my welding job.

yes you can. unbolt crossmember 4 bolts pan comes out pretty easy. putting back in can be a little tricky. i would play with it and figure out the right angle you have to slide it up and over to clear oil pick up before you put gasket on so you dont run the risk of distorying it.

Fasteddy, are you saying on the 3.0 - unbolt the whole front diff housing and drop and rotate , without having to pull the axles out of the diff????
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I need to get around to pulling the pan to check on something I did or didn't do when I assembled and install the shortblock. I've been really lazy about this cause I'm tired of this tired old engine and its' over planed heads and sloppy installed crank sleves by a now defunc reman. co.
I may have the oil pickup only bolted up to oil pump. There were no mounting holes in the bearingcap/cradle thing for the pickup tube. I think I need to hand drill and tap from underneath , as the oil drips into my eyeballs. If this is how it is I'm just asking to drive of a big drop and thereby snap the bottom of the pump off.

I kept the SQ dip stick. Just a little hard to see down in the PS side sometimes to stick it back in.

Dave, we pulled one that way on John's old Shogun. Drop the xmemeber, let the diff carrier rotate down to the front, and you can fiddle the pan off, snaking it out around the pickup. Be careful bolting it back up. Those teeny little bolts snap easy on the pan rim. Good luck with it...

I used the mitsu truck dipstick hole and just bent the stick to clear the turbo stuff. Easier since I had to use the truck oil pan (different depth pans).

Oops, that must be what I did then with the dipstick, as it's on the turbo side and bent to reach.

so the 2 mounts that run from the diff/axle assembly to the forward frame stay bolted up???

Thats the way we did it.