IGeeky1

I'm writing this just because I've seen so many different ways to go about it. I've seen people saying they needed to disconnect steering, axle, exhaust, suspension, remove oil pump or pickup etc. Not saying they didn't need to, just saying I didn't.

My XJ is stock, no lift. I left tires on, I figured is the weight would be better for drop and I feel a bit safer under a vehicle if the wheels are still on. I put stands under the vehicle frame on both isde in the front and barely took tires off the ground.

Of course I drained the oil and removed the oil filter. Removed the starter. Disconnected trans cooler line clamps and all oil pan bolts. I did not disconnect ANY steering or suspension. I did not disconnect exhaust. (to be fair here I must say that I did this while the head was off so the exhaust manifold WAS disconnected from the head. In looking at it though I would think this would put it MORE in the way rather than less but...)

I did take the steering wheel and move it as if making a HARD left turn. I placed a hydraulic jack and a wood block under the differential. I raised it slowly while wiggly the pan about to see where it looked like it had the most room.

In the end the pan was hanging up on the auto trans cooler lines in the front, once I got it beneath them it nearly fell backwards and out.

Now to be fair this makes it sound easier than it was. I gave you the things that worked for me, not all the experimenting and wiggling along the way. For instance instance I tried to release some steering at one point but was stopped by not having a torch to heat things up good.

I've a feeling that when I go to reassemble, having the steering rod out of the way would be nicer.

At any rate, hope this helps somebody in the future!

Aljay

Damn you did a few extra steps I never have had to do.
Starter I have left on I did unbolt the pass. side upper control arm basicly just enough to get the nut and end of bolt out of the way. Trans cooler lines will move enough to get pan off and on. I did use the fel pro plastic install tools (snap ups) to hold the pan gasket in place tho. Fel Pro part number for the "snap ups" ES72863 available from orielly or vato zone. under 5 bucks.

Big David

I use small thread (think sewing) to hold the gasket to the pan.

IGeeky1

Ooh I think I may have mis-written the part about the trans cooler lines. I didn't disconnect the actual lines, just removed the clamps connecting them to the oil pan.

I corrected by adding "clamps" hope that makes more sense.

IGeeky1

I think I saw somewhere that people were using bread bag twisties too.