Majorpayne

How much of a pain is replacing oilpan gasket on a 00 XJ 4.0

fb97xj1

If it has not been lifted, use jackstands under the framerails next to the lower control arm mounts so the axle can hang. If you need to, loosen the shocks and endlinks for more drop. Aside from that, you may have to reach into the pan and loosen the oil pump. The pan takes both 1/4" and 5/16" fasteners. Stick them thru cardoard if youre worried theyll get mixed up, or even lost. I dropped a door hinge pin last year in the driveway. Still havent found it.

5-Speed

I pulled the starter off to do mine and a friends pan gasket. Made it 1000x easier. Should be able to swap it out in a few hours by yourself if its your first time.

diskman

Heres what I did..

Disconnect negative battery terminal.
Remove starter.
Drain oil and remove pan.
Admire crank and rods for a minute.
Replace rear main seal while in there. Search google for a howto.
Clean block and pan surfaces until squeaky clean.
Apply black RTV to block surface. Careful around rear seal area.
Quickly install high-quality gasket to BLOCK and use 4-6 degreased/cleaned oil-pan bolts to hold in place.
Go inside and enjoy an adult beverage or whatever for a bit until RTV holds onto pan gasket.
Remove pan gasket bolts that are holding the gasket on.
CAREFULLY re-install your oil pan. Being extra careful to not move the gasket at all.
Install bolts and tighten to whatever the book says.

Any other way, I have found will cause the gasket to leak or not get installed at the rear of the block.

RTVing it to the block seems to work the best for me.

Bugout4x4

I did have to drop the shocks to get mine off, I was about 1 inch shy without this. I have always been pretty lucky finding those missing bolts and pins, I always find them in one of my tires...