Do you need to drop the transfer case to change oil pan gasket on a 93 Chevy Silverado K1500 4x4 with 5.7L?

Answer 1

I figured this one out today. The Haynes manual says to remove the front axel... well, that isn't as simple as writing it down. I improvised.

Remove the front drive shaft. The axial spline junction on my shaft was too rusted to 'telescope' in for full removal, so taking the yoke brackets off of the front universal joint was enough for the next step.

The front axel housing/tube bolts to the frame via four rubber bushings; left and right, top and bottom. Remove the bolt from the LOWER bushings on the right and left side. I used an air impact wrench. My air tools were INDISPENSIBLE for this job. The bolts were rusted, but a little liquid wrench and the impact driver broke them free.

Let the front axel housing assembly rotate downward ( a pry bar was necessary for a little encouragement) until the drive shaft can be disengaged from the front yoke. Lift the drive shaft upward, out of the way, and lower the axel housing as far down as it will go.

Next, take the bolt out of the left and right motor mounts. Again, my impact wrench saved my bacon. It was hard to get enough torque on the bolts otherwise with limited access. The rear nut is 11/16, the front bolt head is 5/8. I put a box wrench on the 11/16 nut, and the impact wrench on the 5/8 bolt head, accessed to down from under the hood. I used an extention on the air wrench to reach out and avoid interference.

Finally, I used a small hydrolic jack against the front of the tranny to push up the motor. The suspension raises up a couple of inches as the weight of the motor & tranny transfers to the jack; and then the motor lifted up only 1.5 to 2 inches off the mounts, for a total of ~4" of additional lift... that plus the room from rotating the front axel downward, and the oil pan came right out - of course, I had already taken off the front cover from the bell housing. The clutch slave cylinder & starter were removed, as was the oil filter housing (can't find in the Haynes manual what this oil filter housing is...) for better access to the bolts on the oil pan rim. The motor mount brackets never had to completely 'clear' the frame mount brackets.

I first tried the jack against the bell housing, but the rear of the oil pan interfered w/ the jack.

Fortunately, the cross tube exhaust pipe runs just rear of the bell housing, and I didn't have to disturb the rusted exhaust bolts...

After I bolted the new oil pan into place, I was careful to align the front drive shaft U-joint in the front axel yoke as I jacked the axel housing up to align the bushings and bolt holes again. A little lift, and a little adjustment of the drive shave U-joint... and finally rotating the shaft a little as the transfer case raises into position - the U-joint popped back down into the yoke seat.

1994 Chevy Cheyenne K2500, 5.7 L 5sp manual. My oil pan was rusted, and oil was leaking through the pan. I also changed the leaky freeze plug behind the starter.