My timeing skipped a tooth and mess up my rockers and lifters. But I'm messing some parts of a lifter and it has disappeared some where. I've been probeing around with a magnet, drain and tryed flushing the oil, but no luck. So I'm thinking I need to pull off my oil pan to find it and it doesn't look easy. What is the best way about going about this?

I'm missing one of the tops of a lifter.

The easiest way to pull the pan is by removing the engine.

Check around all the valves to make sure no pieces are stuck in the springs.
Gently crank the engine over by hand. You can safely do this while the cams are off and all valves are closed. If if cranks over smoothly then you can be sure that no pieces are stuck in/around the crank and rods.

If all seems good then I wouldn't worry too much about whats stuck in the pan.
The oil pickup has a screen on it so pieces will not get sucked into the oiling system.

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U.S. Army Retired

Assuming the piece made it all the way to the pan, if it did not who knows where it is, here is a thought. Is the pan bottom flat, no notches, from front to back and is the missing piece iron (ie can a magnet grab it)? If both are yes find a good magnet, like whats used to pickup roofing nails in grass, move it along the bottom of the pan to "drag" any loose metal item that's in the bottom of the pan back to near the drain plug then use a magnet on a stick, so to speak, to fish that item out thru the drain hole. If that works problem solved. If not you might consider a magnetic drain plug and/or gluing a magnet or 2 to the bottom of the pan to capture and hold whatever falls in if it ever does. Just a thought.

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Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs

Unfortunately there are some pretty big baffles/structural ridges: http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=98&t=83989#p886060

Thank you for the link. This helps. It gives me a road map to to try to find my lost treasure. I'm going to think about it and see if it can make a tool with a magnet on it that I can bend after it gets inserted in to the oil pan. like a colonoscopy tool.

You can support the motor, undo the engine mounts and drop the suspension cross member down as far as possible. There is then enough room to remove the sump. Power steering shaft connection limits how far you can drop the cross member if you do not disconnect it. Once in the sump, the bits should not cause any problem.
John

Bought a couple of these; they are bendable and have a 2 lb pickup capacity. Small enough to go into tight places!!!
They can be found on eBay, Amazon, and others, just Google!

19" Magnetic Pick Up Tool Flexible Bendable Magnet Goosneck - 2 lb Capacity

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