I have a 390 are there different lengths and widths? I have a friend with a 302 shaft will it work?

 

No.

390
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ar...view/make/ford

302
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ar...view/make/ford

 

Not sure about your trucks but the pan on my 428cj in a 69 mustang is a piece of cake to drop. The cross member comes out with 4 bolts and the pan drops straight down.

 

You mean our massive cross member that is riveted in...?

 

I don't have a cross member, I have a live axle.

 

I use JB weld epoxy on the retainer to keep it from sliding down the shaft.

Just make sure it's in the correct position before applying the epoxy.
Clean all oil off with a cleaner that will remove oil. I hit the lower 1/2" below the retainer with sand paper so the epoxy can bite onto the shaft some as you'll want to have the epoxy all over the retainer and about 3/8-1/2" below the lock retainer. The Quick setting JB weld works the best. So you can keep slowly turning the shaft so it won't lump up on one side before it's set..
Orich

 

I just recently rebuilt my top end after I found low compression on one cylinder pulled the valve covers and found many bent push rods, upon further investigation it was found that the oil pump was not pumping to the top end. So I had no choice but to pull the pan to replace the oil pump. I just pulled the pan last night and was not looking forward to the task at hand, once I got working on it it is not that difficult. Remove the 30 or so bolts holding the oil pan in place, remove the two motor mount bolts, jack the motor up and remove the pan...drain the oil first of course.
Others are probably right in that the shaft will not go anywhere but for piece of mind I sure wouldn't leave a metal rod laying just below my crank.

 

I don't see one. (I like my 3 point mounts)



After dropping a shaft in the pan myself, I always jiggle the bejeebers out of the dizzy as I am lifting it the first inch. I have yet to drop another - even the one that I stuck in from the top with no keeper.

 

I just wanted to revive this thread because it helped me out after a frustrating day. After reading this I felt confident about dropping the shaft in from the top after forgetting to install it while we still had the engine out like boneheads.

In preparation I purchased a telescoping magnet (on Amazon) that would fit in the hole and taped it solid so it would collapse/extend when I was using it. I also picked up some super-long forceps/tweezers to make sure I could drop the shaft in carefully.

Having these tools was crucial to getting multiple attempts at dropping the shaft in when it missed/didn't seat properly several times. Ultimately my problem was that the truck was on a non-level driveway and jacking up one side of the truck so it was a straight, centered shot into the hole is all it took.

Took about 5 minutes to get it seated properly (spinning it with a socket was the final touch) and we were priming the oil system and breaking in the new motor in no time.