I don't see any way of getting the oil pan out without lifting the engine up or lowering the differential. I lowered the diff when I did the timing chain on my 87 22RTE a few years ago. And I still had to twist and turn the pan to clear the oil pickup. But it was worth the effort since the timing chain guide was in a million pieces in the pan and some were already stuck to the oil pickup. It really wasn't that big of a deal to drop the diff. I decided to unbolt the crossmember and let it drop straight down and it went back up into place easily.