so here i am pulling off the head to change what i thought was a bad head gasket. turns out it's a cracked piston on cylinder #2.

so im looking into how to change the piston and all the instructions say to pull the engine out. im not doing that. i already have the head off, and a couple people at advanced auto said you can get it out from removing the oil pan and the oil pump from the bottom and pushing it out.

so i've removed all the bolts on the oil pan.. i think, there's alot of mud caked on.. and then i realized i cant get the oil pan out because the k bar thing is in the way and the exhaust is in the way too..

how do i get the oil pan out so i can change the piston?

 

Unbolt the motor mounts and raise the motor. You might have to unbolt the pickup tube too.

 

i dont have an engine hoist.. :/

 

Sucks to be you.









Jack it up from the harmonic balancer. Don't bend the pulleys, you can remove them.

 

hmm is it ok to jack it up from the balancer? how high do you think that would be? im not sure i have a jack that high.. i'd have to use a million wood blocks to heighten it. the truck has 33" buckshot mudders on it..

do you think i should just buy an engine hoist and swap the engine? i've seen 302's on craigslist for about $200-$250. plus about $150 for an engine hoist? or i could just part this truck out and buy a new truck..

 

if they can prove the engines are good, i'd just do the swap, then you have a bunch of spare parts, and you could build the engine with the cracked piston while your truck is still useful, thats my opinion

 

oh, and whats this about oversized pistons? im pretty sure mine's stock.. rockauto has 3 different types of oversized pistons 0.020", 0.030", 0.040". is that for if you bore'd the cylinder out?

 

You'd have to pull the motor so a machine shop could bore out the cylinders. I would buy a good running engine and swap it out.

 

and if you end up replacing just that one piston, it could throw off the weight balance and make your engine run like crap. they should all weigh exactly the same and produce the same amount of compression as your others. balance is key.