Oil pan removal (1939 1-1/2 ton)

[mvonhobe]

So I got my hands on a 2" socket and a 3/4" drive breaker bar, sprayed some Liquid Wrench on the oil pan filler plug, tapped it, and with only a little tug got 'er spinning off. Carefully positioned a drain pan underneath and spun it completely off annnnnnnnnd absolutely NO fluid drained out! Poked my finger up in there and found a barely flexible layer of serious sludge, I presume. Poked it enough to get about 3-4 quarts to drain out.

Has anyone dropped that oil pan before? How challenging was it and what tips do you have to make it manageable?

Thanks!

[JM 35 Sedan]

Here is a thread you can check out on this: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showth...remove+oil+pan
Then in that thread G.M. suggests looking for some earlier posts on this same subject that you can go back and search for. This is not a quick and easy job.

[PeteVS]

Didn't see the link to the second thread??

[jrhaelig]

Have fun with that......

I did it earlier this summer on my 39 PU. Sure looks like plenty of room up in there, but after removing the starter, exhaust pipes, pivoting the wishbone down from that ball mount in the middle, removing the fuel pump & oil filler tube, removing all 4 engine mounts THEN tilting the engine up with a lifting strap and Harbor Freight web winch I still couldn't get the pan to do more than dangle like a 6 year old's loose tooth.

I ended up reaching my boney arm up & into the hanging pan to scrape out what I could, then using a garden sprayer loaded with gasoline to wash out the pan & pump.

By the way, your top end is probably loaded with the same peanut butter that mine was.

Pull the intake manifold now. Get a replacement gasket from NAPA. Scoop out the goo and get the aforementioned garden sprayer & solvent going.

Good luck. I am about 2 weekends away from firing mine up. Hope you fare well......

[mvonhobe]

Heh! Thanks for all the bright news!!! Srsly, 'preciate it.
I'm hoping that it's tall stance and nice ground clearance might make for an easier time but, while I was down there, it looked anything but straight forward.
John, thanks for the heads-up re. the top end.

[G.M.]

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To get the pan down after raising the egine 2"s the counter balances on the first throw of the crankshaft must be down, look out it will fall down and hit you. If I remember you have to take the bolts out at the rubber mount of the wish bone and prop that down with a block of wood. This sludge came out of an original 38 engine with standard sized bearings. It don't look like it had a great number of miles on it the oil wasn't like it is today. This engine is on the floor. I put new bearings in it from our friend in Altona,Pa. Adjusted the oil pressure to 45, had good compression on all cylinders but the valves are at .018 and I think it will be a little loud so I will grind them slightly. G.M.