Oil pan Gasket and Front Diff seal

Hello,

I am attempting my Oil pan gasket and Front Diff Seal Passenger side seal, for the first time. I have seen many DIY videos and have a good Idea of what needs doing. I have the gasket and seal on the way, I was wondering if there is anything else I should be looking at well i am already in there. Or any tips and things i should know before diving in there.

As well some people say drop the diff completely and pull it out since i am doing the seal and some say leave it in and drop it the 2 inches needed, seeing as the Passenger side seal does not require the diff to be removed. What are your thoughts?

FYI, I have a 2004 1500 5.3

Thanks in advance for any tips 

Check rear main seal.

I have checked the access port in the bell housing and the fly wheel is dry and clean, and no oil when I feel around the bottom of the bell housing.

I checked that first as I would get a mechanic to do that.

Hey,

So I managed to pull off the oil pan gasket and diff seal, successfully. 

A couple tips for anyone attempting this in the future. I did look up a lot of vids on you tube and they all have good tip but not all are helpful.

I managed to do all of this Solo.

1. once you have your truck in the air ( Jack stands, Ramps, lift) turn the wheels to the right all the way, this will move the pitman arm out of the way of the Diff.

2. Drop the centerlink from the Pitman Arms and move it aside this makes removing the diff Easier.

3. To answer remove the diff or not. I removed it completely, its 4 bolts on the Diff and 6 on either axle shaft. I found this made the oil pan much easier and gives you tones of room. Also makes it easier to align the gasket when re-installing it.

4. Dropping the pan was easy, just remove all but 2 bolts, hold the pan with one hand and finish the last 2 bolts. Have lots of card board handy the motor will drip the entire time the pans off.

5. I used a felpro gasket, no complaints there. I used RTV ( Black ) and put a vary thin line on the oil pan all the way around and then placed the gasket, this helped hold the gasket in place well aligning the pan. And also in the 4 corners of the block where the front and back cover meet the block.

6. for those of you who have a cheaper Torque wrench with a click. You will want to do the back 2 bolts ( the longest of the 12mm bolts about 136mm long ) by feel, I don't know why but my torque wrench would not click on those and I snapped one. Had to wait 2 days to get them from the dealer. 18 ftlb is not much past snug.

7. Follow torque sequence, basically start from the middle and work your way out. Make sure the bell housing and pan are flush.

8. When re installing the Diff put the lower Bolt in first this makes aligning the rest of the diff bolts easier then if you do the top bolt first.

9. your motor will be more drained then a regular oil change will need about a quart more of oil then a regular oil change.

10. Don't panic when you don't have oil pressure when you first fire it up, took a sec for mine to kick in, I also cranked the motor a couple times to give the oil a head start.

11. I had a lifter tick before so I used a quart of Lucas Synthetic, and that cleared up the lifter tick. I still have a little valve chatter, but lift tick gone.

These are just some things I wish I new before starting, there are obviously many more steps. But if I new these things would have been easier. If you do your research this is a do-able project for a DIY 'er, I have never gone this deep into a vehicle of mine and it turned out ok. And saved me a couple hundred bucks, it would have cost 800 to 1000 ( I looked around ) i spent about 350 with everything including a new puller and pickle fork, and that includes the diff seal and oil.

Hope this helps future DIY'ers

Cool.   . Thanks for the write up.

Thanks for that!