Well, I've read every one of the hundreds of threads regarding this subject but I'm still getting no love with getting this thing out.
Truck is a '99 XJ with a 3" lift. I have removed starter, steering dampener, stabilizer bar, jacked it up with the tires hanging but can't get the pan out past the transmission. Some folks suggested jacking it up by the axle and I tried that too..
The only thing left is jacking up the transmission but I don't want to risk tearing a new rubber motor mount.
Anyone else have any tricks to share before I go the transmission route?

 

I just did an in frame on mine and I had to hang the front axle, undo the shocks and take a small 6 ton jack and lift the left side after that motor mount was undone to actually clear the pan.

 

I helped my buddy drop his pan 3 times recently. He has a 3" lift as well. We only had to pull the starter and jack the body up on one side a few inches. The pan pretty much fell out at that point. Is the pickup tube causing all the problems or something else? If its an auto, having someone hold the trans lines up and out of the way helps too.

 

It’s an auto. From what I can tell either the axel needs to be an inch lower or the trans bell housing needs to go up an inch so that the pan can slide past it.
Its not hanging on the pickup tube from what I can tell.

 

Lowering the axle would be better than raising the transmission. Disconnect stuff till the axle is low enough; sway bar, shocks, and brake lines if needed. If it doesn't work from there try to jack the axle away from the body while the axle is hung under the body to cheat just a little bit more. You should be able to get it.

 

OP, if you are still fighting this pan I have a little insight. I just did this myself and it was a bear. I have a 98 with 2" lift and Aw4. To get the clearance for the oil pan I had to do all of the following:

-Jack up jeep, place on stands under front doors
-Remove tires
​​​​​​-Remove shock bolts for axel droop.
-Remove sway bar links
​​​​-Remove steering stabilizer
-Disconnect the battery
-Remove the starter.
-Attach cherry picker to the engine head bolts, then remove the motor mount bolts, and lift the engine in the bay.

The last one was the key to getting the pan back in place easily without damaging the gasket or plastic 1/2 pan holders. It is a lot of prep but made it worth not fighting the pan for 2hrs like previous replacement.

 

The shocks were the magic bullet. I unhooked them wich let the axel drop more and the pan came out.

 

Yep. Good deal.