94 4WD Pickup 22RE IFS
Timing Chain Rebuild

Everything went well so far in getting the Timing cover/chain etc off, oil pan is dropped slightly, now for the hard part. There ain't no way that pan is comming off without dropping the Front Differential and there ain't no way I'm not taking the pan off ... too much garbage from the busted guides went down there.

I've done everything I could to work around it, but now it's time for that beast to come out of there.

It appears that I need to lower the Differential about 4" to get the pan out. I know that I will need to unbolt at the inside CV joints and remove the front diffential mount, but I'm not sure what else I need to do. I'll place a jack under the Diff and hopefully I can just undo the rear mounting bolts at the frame and it should lower down, Right?

I haven't removed the wheels or disconnected any steering linkage (Will I need to disconnect any of that?)

Can I get away with not disconnecting the driveshaft and just lowering the Diff?

I'll take another look at the FSM, just want to go through the least steps I can to get 'er out of the way.

Thanks for any suggestions ... they're appreciated! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Nice timing kit from EB ... it's going to go together sweet!

Can't help you with the diff part as the truck I did the timing chain set on last weekend was a 2WD, but...

I found that disconnecting the sway bar and cranking the wheels to full lock helped a lot since it moved the relay rod forward a couple inches.

Great kit, btw, EB, impressive quality and very complete. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

i've heard that you can just pop the hood, unbolt the engine mounts, and put a floor jack under the front of the transmission.

You have 3 bolts that hold the diff to the frame . I unbolt 2 of those and the thin crossmember(the 3rd diff bolt is attached). Let the whole thing hang. It gives "just enough" room to slide the oilpan out. No need to dis-assemble anything else.

Maybe "All of the Above" ... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />
I'll check the clearance above the tranny to see if it will get me high enough ... if there's a way to do this without dropping that differential, I sure want to find it (short of pulling the engine clear out of there). I don't have a hoist or I'd try pulling it up as high as possible. Have to study this one more, one way or the other that pan is commin' out, gettin' cleaned up, gooped up and put right back on there.

It'll almost be a pleasure puttin' the rest of it all back together ... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for your input!

Tater,

Sounds like you've been there, done that ... I'll give that a try. I'll keep ya posted on how she goes ...
Thanks a ton for the info all!!

I have done this with success. Here's a better trick though. Put the oil pan back in andw/ a few bolts so its tight. Unbolt the engine from the engine mounts so that 1/2 is still attached to engine makin ga V. Now jack up teh engine (via pan if you want as high as you can - but watch the bellhousing, it will hit teh tunnels after ~3" or so... just go as far as you can. Now slip soem wood blocks in teh space where teh mounts should meet, and let off teh jack. Blocks will hold it up.
Now if you need ~1/2" more clearance, support the front differential and removet he bolt that hold teh front cover to the crossmember... w/o the bolt there, it wil ldrop a little more.
This is *just enough* to wiggle the pan out from around it. You have to holder mouth just right too... but it beats removing the whole front end!

RLGuy,

"Unbolt the engine from the engine mounts so that 1/2 is still attached to engine making a V"

I don't fully understand, do I unbolt all bolts that attach the mounts to the frame, but none of the bolts that attach the mounts to the engine block?
Then raise the engine and put in some blocks (in other words place a block spacer on the frame under the raised mounts?

Thanks!!

I found that all I needed to do was to drop the diff. and leave it hanging by the axles. Then I unbolted the steering stabilizer and the tie rod end from the idler arm(pass. side) and that allowed enough room to slip the pan out.

-Chris

Well, I'm convinced that I don't need to take the Differential completely out of there to get the pan out ... that in itself is a sigh of relief. Think I'll start with the easiest of suggestions and work toward the tougher ones as needed to accomplish the task. May end up with a combination, but you have all been most helpful and shed some light on the subject ... I was pretty much groaping in the dark without it, so THANKS ... I feel much better about getting this project wrapped up now <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />