Over the summer I did a poor mans rebuild on my 95 4.3. Freshened the heads, did the timing chain, new radiator, gasket set, all the good stuff. What I didnt realize at the time was that once you pull off the timing cover, as easily as it comes off, the only way to reinstall it properly is by dropping the oil pan. I really didnt feel like doing that at the time, so I shaved off the lip at the bottom of the timing cover and pushed it back into the oil pan. Retarded, I know. Of course it leaked, so I put some RTV around the sealing surface and hoped for the best. Still leaks quite a bit. So anyway I noticed theres a ton of people around that want to remove their oil pan, but think its such a huge task. It doesnt look that bad. Ill be tackling this issue once Im finished shoveling the two feet of snow out of my driveway. Stay tuned. Sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum.

 

I went to tackle the oil pan issue, among many others, recently. I have found out that dropping the oil pan is an incredible amount of work. In my case, I only needed to drop the pan a few inches (not even) to replace my timing cover, but I wanted to see if it could be fully removed by removing the front axle assembly. When push came to shove, I folded. Heres what I found was involved in this process, if it can be done at all.

I unbolted the four front axle mounts, which allowed the assembly to drop a little bit. Unbolted the 6 bolts from each CV flange. The axle assembly will not just drop down and out, but I didnt need it to. The pumpkin hits some bracketry and stops movement. If I was going to totally remove it, I think you would have to also remove the center link, allowing the assembly to rotate forward, then drop down. Also, you might have to do some grinding on the lower control arms to allow the CV flanges enough room. For oil pan removal, it is necessary to remove the torque converter shield, starter, and oil line sandwich adapter (im asssuming this is where the oil filter is on trucks without remote filters). From there, its just a matter of removing the pan bolts and youre all set.

 

Wow! You just scared me out of replacing my pan gasket in my yard-my 165K Jimmy is only very barely undercoating the underside of the unit with rust protectant (oil)-I only lose a 1/4 qt. in 4K-and no drips in the driveway either-oil cooling lines look fine as well! I think its the front seal....and pan gasket would be prerequisite in that job anyway-so I am going to leave mine alone for the time being!
Sometimes it seems like the factors involving repairs on these units seem too much to overcome... Well just try working on the new units! We have about a 10 year parts supply left on these before they are toast-pick up as many parts as you can! So many of these are there for the taking! If you see one:BUY IT!

 

when I had my transmission rebuilt my mechanic told me his daughter has a blazer the same year as mine and he took it to a mechanic to have the gasket changed. If a mechanic wont change his own daughters then that just tells you how much of a pain it is. He told me that many times the oil pan leaks and it looks just like the rear main is leaking because of where they leak on these. He did say something to me about needing to pull the motor part way to change the pan gasket. Sounds ridiculos to me to have to go through all that for something so minimal...

 

yeah, its a pain. thankfully, my gasket was good so i didnt need to replace it. just needed to be able to slide in the new timing cover. I suppose if youre a circus freak with crazy dexterity you might be able to snake you hand in there and drop the gasket in the pan, below the pickup, and pull it out the other side. but i wasnt willing to try.

 

I also did my head gaskets, timing chain, timing cover, rear main seal, blah blah, and tried for 3 days to get the oil pan to drop down. Took out all the bolts, and struggled for days. Honestly when i finally gave up it took me one night to get the motor out and the pan off. IMO its a ton less work to pull the motor, less fighting the bolts, easier to see if all the old gasket is off, you can actually see what youre doing etc. If you end of getting it down or out without pulling the motor I say good luck! and get pictures for a write up for others to use!

EDIT: didnt see the second post was from you lol, I thought it was someone else explaining their experience

 

ok heres the scoop or the poop wichever you think my son was in a front end collision the front diff flexed backward in the rubber mounts and punched a dent in the aluminum oil pan took out the front diff center link cv joints drivers side a arm, to get to a bolt in the frame,starter then i still had to bend the bottom mount brakrt straight to drop the diff then 5 bolts on each side then 3 in the trans and o dont forget the 2 hidden under the rubber grommets on the back of the oil pan' i did and took a pry bar to it ,it came loose along with the to ears on the rear main oil seal housing, so i get to pull the trans and replace that what fun oh i have a 2001 4wd blazer im kinda sick about it but live and learn all together the diff was not hard just alot of removing parts i did this in my driveway on my back.