Anyone changed the oil pump and dropped the pan without dropping the front differential??

 

You don't drop the pan all the way, just take out all the screws and then tip it back and forth as needed to remove the oil pump pickup tube screw. You do risk dropping the screw into the depths of the pan this way though. Once it's off, you have to twist and finagle the oil pump off the pickup tube.

 

It's easy to pull the front diff down. Might spend less time just pulling it and less chance of leaks.

 

Drop the front diff. It's less work than trying to leave it there and work around it.

 

Mine is lifted but I didnt drop my pan all the way out. I just undid all the bolts and dropped it enought to get my hand in

 

I replaced the oil pump on my 2003 silverado 1500HD without even dropping the pan at all. It does require some modification though.

Remove everything like you would normally remove the oil pump on these motors. When you get down to the oil pump it has a flange. stuff some rags down into the oil pan. The bolt that holds the flange on can be removed with the pan still on. You will have to get the bolt out with some needle nose pliers though. I actually dropped my bolt in the pan but easily got it back out with a magnet. Now that you have the bolt out you can get the pickup tube out of the pump and remove the pump.

The flange has a tab that keeps the flange from being turned. I used a dremel and then ground that tab off where I can turn that flange 180 degrees. Now that you have turned the flange you can reinstall that bolt into the opposite side on the oil pump and access it easily as you will never get it installed in the original location without dropping the pan. I will upload some pictures in just a minute.