I spent a long time searching this site for info on how to change out the oil pan on my rig without pulling out the motor and/or trans. I didnt find much beyond advice to pull the engine. In the mean time I figured it out and wanted to post it here in case anyone else needed to know.

This is on a 2000 F250 SD with the 5.4 and a crew cab. Not sure if this applies to the Diesels because thier pans are much larger. Durning an accidient the axle on the truck was pushed back and took out the oil pan so I had to swap it out. The issue is clearance between the crossmember and the front of the trans that you need to wiggle out the pan. The Hyanes manual(worthless for this) says to pull the throttle body, loosen the engine and trans mounts and jack up the engine. I did this many many times and the problem was the valve cover contacts the firewall before the engine is high enough.

The fix that worked for me:
- Pull the throttle body.
- Undo upper radiator hose
- Remove the 4 large nuts holding the engine mounts and the 2 holding the trans mount to the support.
- Remove the cover plate on the trans that hides the TC.
- Jack up the engine so that the studs of the mounts are out of the plate but stop before the valve cover hits the firewall.
- Now force the engine and trans backwards until the trans mount studs are all the way to the rear in the slotted holes in the trans crossmember.(I did this by lightly jacking the Xfer case with a floor jack and pushing if swith my foot.)
- Now install and tighten the trans mount nuts to hold the engine/tranny in that reward position.
- Continue to jack up the engine just until the valve cover contacts the firewall.
- Put wood blocks or the like between the engine mounts and the plates in case your lift fails, to protect your hands.
- Drop the oil pan by loosening all the bolts and moving the annoying cooler lines.
- Reach in and undo the 3(Not 2, stupid Haynes book) bolts that hold the sump pipe to the motor and let it fall into the oil pan.
- Pull the pan towards the rear of the truck and down. A bit of wiggling and it will come out.
-New 1 piece gasket, and installation is reverse of removal.

The issue with most of the instructions I have seen is they say to loosen all the mounts and jack up the engine as far as it will go. When you do that, the valvecover hits the firewall and as you keep jacking it pulls the whole thing towards the front of those sloted trans crossmember bolt holes. That brings the trans too close to the engine crossmember and makes the pan removal impossible. By forcing the trans back and rebolting it down before you start really jacking up the engine you prevent that.
I dont normaly post here but with all the posts about rotted pans on these trucks, I wanted to share this tip with everyone. Hopefully someone else wont waste as much time as I did trying to do this job. I see why the dealer gets over a grand for it. That being said, now that I have done it, I could redo it in under 3 hours start to finish.

 

i wish that would work on the psd. at work we pull the motor leave the trans. we have had to do about five or six of the company truck oil pans in the last year because they rust out and leak.