Oil cooler bolt stripped, not willing to risk it and pump all my oil into the highway. What fun am I looking at to pull the pan on a 1500 4x4? Just need to get it to the bench, helicoil it and put it back with new gaskets.

Do I have to remove the diff or can I just drop it until the steering stops it? How bad is fishing it passed the pick up gonna be?

Drop the diff, it’s easy.

So that was super easy. I hate pulling our steering, but only because all I have is a pickle fork and I don't like beating on my steering box. Tried with just resting the diff on the steering, no dice. Had to pull steering to drop diff lower.

I left the diff in the truck, just dropped it
upper most diff bolt is WAAAAY easier to remove with the oil cooler lines loose
oil cooler bolts are 6x1.0 and the holes are blind
I used Mahle gaskets, so let's hope nothing comes of that. Put dabs of rtv at the corners for front and rear covers
all total, about 4hrs start to finish. Used some of that time to clean the pan and the block. Looks minty fresh under there