Has anyone pulled the oil pan on their NBS Denali ( or 4WD)??

[ivin74]

I've searched and found contradictory info on whether or not the front diff needs to be completely pulled. Some say you can just pull the mounting bolts and lower and some say it has to be completely removed. If anybody here has pulled theirs, please enlighten me as to how difficult it is. Probably anyone with a 4WD would be able to shed light on this. I'm trying to decide on whether or not to pull the pan to retrieve a piece of my dipstick tube that fell into the pan when I was trying to replace it. I'll be doing a cam soon, and have an oil pump and timing chain to do also but might just do the cam if the entire job is too much.

I have dropped the pan both ways, losing up the diff and dropping the diff and i tell you what it was alot easier by dropping the diff. It took me 30min to drop the diff using an impact and about the same time putting the diff back with help from my wife. All the help my wife gave me was working the jack up/down as i was alighning the diff back in place. I found it harder to drop the pan with out droping the diff.

 

[Rocket Man]

I have dropped the pan both ways, losing up the diff and dropping the diff and i tell you what it was alot easier by dropping the diff. It took me 30min to drop the diff using an impact and about the same time putting the diff back with help from my wife. All the help my wife gave me was working the jack up/down as i was alighning the diff back in place. I found it harder to drop the pan with out droping the diff.

Yeah but when you say "drop the diff" you're talking about removing the mounting bolts and lowering it while leaving the axles attached, right? Not removing it completely in other words? I saw where you could remove the bolts and use a floor jack to lower it until the pan clears.

 

[ivin74]

Yeah but when you say "drop the diff" you're talking about removing the mounting bolts and lowering it while leaving the axles attached, right? Not removing it completely in other words? I saw where you could remove the bolts and use a floor jack to lower it until the pan clears.

You are correct.
Dropping the diff makes it easier to remove the oil pan and also torque the pan bolts when you put it back. While you are there you can also change out the diff oil. This should be an easy diy for you, i''ve read your build thread

 

[Rocket Man]

Well I did it, along with a cam and timing set. It wasn't easy but then it was 105 degrees yesterday when that part of my work was done. There were a couple bolts that were hard to get to and the oil level sensor connection got me so I just cut the damn wires. But yes it did come out, barely and with a bit of prying on the diff while working the pan out. And I didn't have to pull the starter although most instructions I've read say to do. I riveted the new gasket to the pan like OEM and that made it easier to install.

 

[ivin74]

Well I did it, along with a cam and timing set. It wasn't easy but then it was 105 degrees yesterday when that part of my work was done. There were a couple bolts that were hard to get to and the oil level sensor connection got me so I just cut the damn wires. But yes it did come out, barely and with a bit of prying on the diff while working the pan out. And I didn't have to pull the starter although most instructions I've read say to do. I riveted the new gasket to the pan like OEM and that made it easier to install.

I read your build tread and it looks like you had your hands full. I'm glad you found the dip stick tube.

 

[Rocket Man]

Yeah me too, that was bothering me. Anyway I'm all done and took it for a test drive with the new cam. Good times.