okay, so on the third. me and a buddy are going to tackle the dastardly rear main seal. before i ship out on the 11th, so my sister will have a reliable cherokee. now i know we need to droop the suspension as much as possible. and i will need the 2 peice rear main.(bought) and the oil pan gasket. and new oil and filter of course. NOW. all i need to do is get it high enough and then drop the front shocks right? drain the oil, remove pan. change seal. and fill with oil. Correct? i have a 95 cherokee sport automatic 4wd v6. non lift.

 

even at full droop, it was a real PITA to get the pan out.

I can assure you the pan will NOT want to come off, I eventually had to use the stock jack and wedged it between the control arm and the pan and cranked it till the pan finally gave way and popped off. also the top half of the main doesnt want to budge, make sure you have a LONG punch so it hands below the bellhousing.

other than that its pretty straightforward.

also did you get the 1 piece rubber gasket? much better than the multiple piece ones. also my OEM gasket was stuck on both the block and pan and it would have taken hours to scrape off, I ended up just putting RTV on both sides of the gasket and got off what I could. Pan is bone dry so getting all of the old gasket off isnt that critical IMO


have fun

 

yes, i bought the 2 peice gasket. because i dont want to drop tranny to replace. because i dont have that much time. and hopefully want this to be a day job with a few garage tools and a air compressor. and since the corp wont wait for me on the 11th. i have to get it done soon

 

no I mean the 1 piece oil pan gasket, I dont think you can even get a 1 piece rear main for the 4.0L

I did it without air tools and it took me about 4 hours.

also dont bother pulling the starter, I have seen writeups where they say to remove it.

 

You will probably have to progressively disconnect front end components after full droop. Did it on mine with four and a half inches without jacking it up or taking anything off and it was still a *****. I would invest in a set of the oil pan snap ups as well. I will be when I do it again lol.

Sent from my Garminfone while fighting off ninjas

 

I did it with a 3 inch lift without jacking it up. I only had to take off the steering damper. Getting it back in wasnt too bad, just required finesse.

 

I think you mean I6.

 

Just be carefull not to damage the seal when you push it up and around the top side of the crank....I have had this happen on a few that I have done.

 

Going back in I usually push it back in by hand so that doesn't happen.

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well, i think im going to go to a local rental place and get a air compressor and some air tools. because the only thing im worried about is that oil pan. and if i jack it high enough. would i just have to drop the shocks to get enough room?

 

you shouldnt need anything but your hands to get it up there, as previously mentioned.

 

im starting to get everything i need to do it soon. cleaning out garage. but will i be able to do it with hand tools? or should i rent some air ratchets.

 

You only need two size sockets for the pan and one bigger one and a breaker bar and torque wrench for the main cap. Different story if you end up ripping the front end apart to get at it. May want air tools for that depending on the condition of your bolts. Oh and some long extensions for the pan. Have fun cause the oil NEVER stops dripping.

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I did it with hand tools

you dont NEED a breaker bar to get the bearing cap off if you have a good 1/2" ratchet, the gears are usually strong enough to handle a pipe on the end for leverage

I used 1/4" ratchet with some extensions to get all of the pan bolts off. def have atleast 12" of extentions for it, it will make the job go much easier.

other than that its pretty self explanitory.

and yea, the oil never stops dripping

 

while u got the pan off, u should prbly check the end play on the crank by just sticking a big screwdriver in between the crank and thrust bearing. if it just barely moves, then its fine, but its moves a lot then u got a problem. happened on my 93 zj, the motor had to get rebuilt. and u shouldnt need and air tools