I've got a nice oil leak originated between the timing cover and the front of the oil pan. I would like to drop the pan to repair but not sure how possible this is with the cross member in place (4x4 model). Is this possible or should I pursue drilling the rivits to remove the cross member and replacing with bolts?
Of course, the leak occurred after I reassembled the front of the engine for my timing gear installation. Bad gasket area prep work on my part!
I did it twice in situ (4x4) and didn't need to remove the cross member. I didn't do this, but it may help to unbolt the engine mounts and lift the engine a couple of inches to get at the front pan bolts more easily.
On my '86 k-10 w/6.2L, I was able to drop the oil pan without lifting the engine or anything else. I simply jacked up the front of the truck to release weight on the front axle so it dropped out of the way a bit. Otherwise it was a breeze.
On a 2WD, it is much harder to do, because of a much larger cross-member.
Casey
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