I just had the same problem recently I also had to detach everything but on top of that you need to put two bottle jacks between the axle and the frame and jack it down that last couple of inches.

 

Sounds reasonable. Thanks for the quick response. I'll give it a shot in the morning after I make yet another trip to the parts store.

 

Yeap, oil pan does not have enough clearance between the engine and axle to slide through on a stock height XJ. You either need to droop down the axle, or lift the engine.

 

^Yup, lift the body, droop the axle, wiggle.
Try not to get too friendly with the oil pump as you're taking it out of there.
I think I had to take one of the bolts out of the bottom of the trans for a little bit more room.

 

Now that I have an audience I'll throw in another question. What do you do with that "oil pan support bracket," that plastic? u-shaped piece that saddles the underside of the back lip of the oil pan? None of my repair manuals even mention it. Should I make sure my oil pan gasket/RMS are not leaking before I install it or does this piece help make the seal?

 

Can I ask why you are removing the pan? I am learning from your experience. Like, don't drop the pan unless you really have to.

 

About a year and a half ago a mechanic told me my oil pan, RMS, and valve cover gaskets were all leaking. I've been pouring oil on by brothers driveway for a few years now getting him fined by the homeowners association the few times I haven't cleaned it up quickly enough

I'm fixing it because I want to be an expert on these Jeeps so when I get a 4x4 toy I'll know what I'm doing. This is a 2WD and automatic trans, so its just a learner, though it is my sole form of transportation. I'm fixing it now specifically because I don't know how much longer my brother will have this house and along with that my access to his garage and my brother's car when I need it.

It has been tough though, especiallly for a newbie like me. This was my fourth full day working on it. All Day one was spent trying to unhook my rusty steering damper. I finally did it with a pitman arm puller after using PB and a hammer for an hour and braking a pair of regular 2jaw pullers.

Most of day 2 was running back an forth from the parts store and removing more tight and rustly bolts.

Yesterday, day 3, I finally removed the final stuck bolt and thought I'd get the pan out but couldn't. I thought I needed more room so I decided to add a transmission fluid change after draining the fluid to unhook the transmission cooling lines. Still no room between the axle and back of transmission and I started this thread.

Day 4. 4 hours. 4 trips to WalMart. Still no working bottle jack. I gave up. GD Walmart.

One more week of taking my bro's car to work and day 5 starts on Wed. But yeah, to sum it all up, don't do unless you really have to. I'm glad I'm learning a lot when I can, but if I knew I would still be at this 2 weeks later I might have just paid sombody.

 

I had to remove mine a few months ago to replace the rear main seal on my 5.2L 1997 Grand Cerokee. I did what to "Book" said to do but the left out some steps. The best quote that I was was that in order to remove the oil pan from the 5.2L was to remove the transmission, take out the engine or lift the engine about 4 inches. I decide to lift the engine. It took a little longer but it made life allot easier. I also had to drop the exhaust pipes from the headers. It took a good day. The new oil pan gasket is a single piece and that helped.

 

It also comes in handy to remove the stud nuts on the transmission mount (from the crossmember,) and put a bottle jack under the transfer case - the inch or so of lift you can get that way is often just enough to get you where you need to go.

With a 3" lift, however, I know the oil sump will slip right out with all four feet on the ground - but with no lift, it takes a little work to do. But, it's doable. I've never had to detach anything on the front end, just jack up to full droop, push the transfer case up into the sheetmetal (gently!) and put a bottle jack between the long axle tube and the subframe rail to push it out. Easy enough to do - just takes a bit of finagling...

 

Maybe there's something freaky about my rig, but I was able to get my oil pan out by putting the Jeep high enough on jack stands so the wheels cleared the ground by a couple of inches. Then I used a floor jack centered under the diff and jacked the axle up an inch or so at a time (the axle swings forward slightly). With a lot of wiggling I got it out and back in.

 

The oil pan came out today. I had about half an hour to pick up a 6 ton bottle jack and play around with it. Finally I heard the pan hit ground. I can't tell you good that felt. I did have one last casualty. I wasn't wearing my work pants and I split my last pair of good khakies down the crotch. Now I just need to take off the rear main bearing cap and punch out the top half RMS and I am done taking it apart. Hopefully putting back together won't take another 2 weeks.

 

Always goes back together 10 times faster.....will take you less then a day. Wrench on :thumbsup:

 

I don't know if you did this or not, but unbolting the sway bar end links will give some more droop. Removing the starter is also a good move. I did this on my '97 2WD and had no problems dropping the pan. The support "girdle" for the main bearings though I did not have a torque spec so I just torqued the bolts/nuts the same as the main bolts.

 

is it a jeep or "2wd"....there really should only be one or the other....stock 1997 Cherokee sport 4WD w "up-country"....trying to get the oil pan off to fix oil leaks. is the problem, that the front end is drooping TOO MUCH ? oil pan should not require lifting motor, lifting tranny, disco all suspension, et al (but IT IS A JEEP)? please help

 

Remove shocks and sway bar links to get more axle droop for clearance.