I pulled the head off my XJ today to discover a weak, but not blown, head gasket between cylinders 2 & 3, the exhaust valve in the #3 cylinder is stuck open, and the #2 piston is cracked. Tomorrow (or technically today since it's about 1:30am) I will drop the oil pan to make sure the crank is ok and if it is, I will rebuild it. Is it possible to rebuild the motor with it still in the Jeep? If I do I will probably remove the front axle to do it so I have more room. Pics will also come tomorrow

 

Unless you have the bore or hone tool, and a good back. Either way not worth the stress.
With you going that far bro. I would just take out the 4 or so trans to motor bolts, then the motor mounts. Pull the whole motor out. That way you can clean the whole block.

 

Yeah, you can do it with the motor installed, but it ain't like the old ford pickups where you could stand in there. Your back will kill you, you'll be climbing up then under then up again when you drop things....
It's a lot easier to just unbolt and put it on a stand. Flip it upside-down to work on the crank, nothing falling or dripping in your face. Kinda nice.
Probably easier to yank the motor than try to finagle the oil pan off past all the stuff under there.

 

Alright I think ya'll have given me a pretty good idea of what I need to do, now to find a cherry picker & a stand, & I'll be set! Thanks!