Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Just thought I'd share my experience with replacing my oil pan and engine mounts, I've used TDR many times when working on my truck and figured I'd try to give back after this project.
Tools: Nothing special, just sockets, extensions, open end wrenches, and an engine hoist.
Materials: New oil pan (I used a spectra pan) & gasket, New engine mount inserts, New through-bolts for engine mounts, also get everything you'll want for an oil change.
To preface this, I realized after installing a synergy steering system on a friends 2nd gen that my oil pan was much lower than his. In fact, I realized that my oil pan was fully resting on the cross-member. Upon further inspection, I realized that I had broken an engine mount bolt. So it seemed like the most logical thing would be to replace the engine mount bushings as well as the pan. These are two pretty different projects, but its somewhat convenient to do them at the same time, but if your factory bushings look good, I wouldn't mess with them, I switched to polyurethane and I think it transmits more energy to the cab personally....Either way....I did this repair in the street without a creeper, it ended up being a pretty physical endeavor and was extremely dirty...but aren't all trucks with over 300k?
The process I ended up having to go through was slightly different than others I had seen online I'll try to be linear, but nothing ever is...
1. Disconnect battery ground, (its actually very important for this job believe it or not)
2. I had to remove my starter for a few reasons, most important was that the engine mount through bolt was butting up against it and couldn't be removed, it also gives you a lot more working space, I'd definitely recommend doing this just for the ease it gives you on the drivers side...
3. Disconnect exhaust from turbo. This may not be necessary for everyone, but I have a 4 inch exhaust that was providing plenty of resistance along with hitting the cab and not allowing the engine to go much higher. I had to unbolt mine from the turbo and get the hanger disconnected from the trans. this was kind of a pain, but I was able to jack my transmission up and unbolt that hanger piece from the main mount...This step is kind of a pain, but like I said it gave me so much more movement and clearance.
4. Drain your engine oil and Hook up your hoist, I used the lift point on the passengers side of the head along with an unused bolt on the drivers side of the head, make sure you try to equalize each leg of your chain...close enough will work.
5. Once you have a load on the hoist, go ahead and loosen or remove your engine mount through-bolts, I removed since I was replacing the bushings as well.
6. Start hoisting, be very aware of all clearances, I broke my fan shroud accidentally...Keep an eye on the movement of the engine relative to the cab, you don't want to be lifting your whole truck up much, but Its bound to rise a bit.
7. Remove old pan bolts. Not very fun without a creeper.
8. Use a putty knife to separate the pan from block and very carefully remove the old pan. Mine pretty-much fit out no problem, I think it rubbed bit on the front of the old pick up tube, but not much. Be very carful of all parts of the pick up tube. Also worth mentioning that my old pan was in very rough shape, the previous owner married a few rocks with it for sure, I'll try to upload pics, I also found some old pieces of the KDP in the bottom of the pan. FUN.
9. Remove old gasket and clean mating surfaces. I used a ton of brake-kleen for the initial cleaning, make sure you get the sides of the block a bit too so nothing falls or drips down when you're ready to mount the new pan. Scraping the old gasket off sucks, but make sure you get it all, the light colored gasket is hard to see, it will leak if you miss any. I used a chiseled 2 inch putty knife and a scotch bright pad with acetone after. You'll have to get the initial cleaning done and then I wiped the mating surfaces with acetone maybe 4 times? You'll have to do it right before you put the pan on due to the fact that oil will still be dripping from the crank-case.
10. RTV time! this seems to be a bit debated, but I'll let you know what I did (which is not leaking yet). Wipe the entire new pan down with some kind of cleaner, I used acetone. I ran a bead of blue RTV around the entire pan, be sure to go on the inside of the bolt holes. I spread it a little bit with a piece of clean cardboard and let it start setting up, next you'll want to take your gasket out of the box, I used the box as a work surface for the gasket while siliconing it. Its a pretty floppy gasket, so be careful with it, the less you move it the better. Now I ran a bead of RTV around the entire block side of the gasket and spread it. I let them both sit for probably 30 minutes and they started to get pretty tacky (it was very hot outside) I then put the gasket on to the pan and got it lined up with the holes using my 1/4in drive extension.
11. Install. I had a friend help me with this, its not necessary, but helps alleviate some stress and allows for smoother installation. Do one final cleaning to make sure no oil is on the mating surfaces, slide your new pan in making sure not to hit the gasket on anything, have 4 bolts ready to go for each corner. I then re-installed all my old bolts using the recommended x tightening pattern, but just did them hand tight. I then let the RTV cure over night.
12. Torque pan bolts. As mentioned before I used cummins recommended tightening pattern to 18ft lbs. This was a huge PITA, but take your time and check your torque wrench before each bolt. Mine seems to have a habit of coming loose and re-setting itself. I used a silver sharpie to mark each bolt after I torqued it. This was very helpful, its easy to loose track of what has and hasn't been tightened.
13. I then had to install my new mount bushings, which is a whole different write-up in itself. I wouldn't do this unless you have to, I spent about 2 hours fighting the engine to get everything to line up properly for reinstallation. I was also on a slight downhill, which didn't help.
14. Once you're happy with everything, slowly start lowering your engine. Go slowly and make sure everything's lined up, this part was more trick than I expected. Once you have the bushings lined up and started in to the mounts on the frame, go ahead and stick your through bolts in with washers and the nut hand tight. Now drop her all the way down, once you've assured every thing looks peachy, tighten your mounts. Not sure the torque spec, I went Italian tight...
15. Now just hook up your exhaust and install your starter and probably the most important step....FILL YOUR OIL. I could see how someone doing this over the course of a few days could space out on this....I did a full oil change myself.
I hope I'm not forgetting anything, but overall while this job isn't super technical, its extremely physical. If you have access to a lift, use it. Make sure to take your time and work smarter not harder.
Tools: Nothing special, just sockets, extensions, open end wrenches, and an engine hoist.
Materials: New oil pan (I used a spectra pan) & gasket, New engine mount inserts, New through-bolts for engine mounts, also get everything you'll want for an oil change.
To preface this, I realized after installing a synergy steering system on a friends 2nd gen that my oil pan was much lower than his. In fact, I realized that my oil pan was fully resting on the cross-member. Upon further inspection, I realized that I had broken an engine mount bolt. So it seemed like the most logical thing would be to replace the engine mount bushings as well as the pan. These are two pretty different projects, but its somewhat convenient to do them at the same time, but if your factory bushings look good, I wouldn't mess with them, I switched to polyurethane and I think it transmits more energy to the cab personally....Either way....I did this repair in the street without a creeper, it ended up being a pretty physical endeavor and was extremely dirty...but aren't all trucks with over 300k?
The process I ended up having to go through was slightly different than others I had seen online I'll try to be linear, but nothing ever is...
1. Disconnect battery ground, (its actually very important for this job believe it or not)
2. I had to remove my starter for a few reasons, most important was that the engine mount through bolt was butting up against it and couldn't be removed, it also gives you a lot more working space, I'd definitely recommend doing this just for the ease it gives you on the drivers side...
3. Disconnect exhaust from turbo. This may not be necessary for everyone, but I have a 4 inch exhaust that was providing plenty of resistance along with hitting the cab and not allowing the engine to go much higher. I had to unbolt mine from the turbo and get the hanger disconnected from the trans. this was kind of a pain, but I was able to jack my transmission up and unbolt that hanger piece from the main mount...This step is kind of a pain, but like I said it gave me so much more movement and clearance.
4. Drain your engine oil and Hook up your hoist, I used the lift point on the passengers side of the head along with an unused bolt on the drivers side of the head, make sure you try to equalize each leg of your chain...close enough will work.
5. Once you have a load on the hoist, go ahead and loosen or remove your engine mount through-bolts, I removed since I was replacing the bushings as well.
6. Start hoisting, be very aware of all clearances, I broke my fan shroud accidentally...Keep an eye on the movement of the engine relative to the cab, you don't want to be lifting your whole truck up much, but Its bound to rise a bit.
7. Remove old pan bolts. Not very fun without a creeper.
8. Use a putty knife to separate the pan from block and very carefully remove the old pan. Mine pretty-much fit out no problem, I think it rubbed bit on the front of the old pick up tube, but not much. Be very carful of all parts of the pick up tube. Also worth mentioning that my old pan was in very rough shape, the previous owner married a few rocks with it for sure, I'll try to upload pics, I also found some old pieces of the KDP in the bottom of the pan. FUN.
9. Remove old gasket and clean mating surfaces. I used a ton of brake-kleen for the initial cleaning, make sure you get the sides of the block a bit too so nothing falls or drips down when you're ready to mount the new pan. Scraping the old gasket off sucks, but make sure you get it all, the light colored gasket is hard to see, it will leak if you miss any. I used a chiseled 2 inch putty knife and a scotch bright pad with acetone after. You'll have to get the initial cleaning done and then I wiped the mating surfaces with acetone maybe 4 times? You'll have to do it right before you put the pan on due to the fact that oil will still be dripping from the crank-case.
10. RTV time! this seems to be a bit debated, but I'll let you know what I did (which is not leaking yet). Wipe the entire new pan down with some kind of cleaner, I used acetone. I ran a bead of blue RTV around the entire pan, be sure to go on the inside of the bolt holes. I spread it a little bit with a piece of clean cardboard and let it start setting up, next you'll want to take your gasket out of the box, I used the box as a work surface for the gasket while siliconing it. Its a pretty floppy gasket, so be careful with it, the less you move it the better. Now I ran a bead of RTV around the entire block side of the gasket and spread it. I let them both sit for probably 30 minutes and they started to get pretty tacky (it was very hot outside) I then put the gasket on to the pan and got it lined up with the holes using my 1/4in drive extension.
11. Install. I had a friend help me with this, its not necessary, but helps alleviate some stress and allows for smoother installation. Do one final cleaning to make sure no oil is on the mating surfaces, slide your new pan in making sure not to hit the gasket on anything, have 4 bolts ready to go for each corner. I then re-installed all my old bolts using the recommended x tightening pattern, but just did them hand tight. I then let the RTV cure over night.
12. Torque pan bolts. As mentioned before I used cummins recommended tightening pattern to 18ft lbs. This was a huge PITA, but take your time and check your torque wrench before each bolt. Mine seems to have a habit of coming loose and re-setting itself. I used a silver sharpie to mark each bolt after I torqued it. This was very helpful, its easy to loose track of what has and hasn't been tightened.
13. I then had to install my new mount bushings, which is a whole different write-up in itself. I wouldn't do this unless you have to, I spent about 2 hours fighting the engine to get everything to line up properly for reinstallation. I was also on a slight downhill, which didn't help.
14. Once you're happy with everything, slowly start lowering your engine. Go slowly and make sure everything's lined up, this part was more trick than I expected. Once you have the bushings lined up and started in to the mounts on the frame, go ahead and stick your through bolts in with washers and the nut hand tight. Now drop her all the way down, once you've assured every thing looks peachy, tighten your mounts. Not sure the torque spec, I went Italian tight...
15. Now just hook up your exhaust and install your starter and probably the most important step....FILL YOUR OIL. I could see how someone doing this over the course of a few days could space out on this....I did a full oil change myself.
I hope I'm not forgetting anything, but overall while this job isn't super technical, its extremely physical. If you have access to a lift, use it. Make sure to take your time and work smarter not harder.
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