Damage report: Around winch hill one I started hearing a metallic sound coming from the rear passenger side. I had my son walk beside me while I drove but he said he couldn't hear anything although I still could. I concluded that it must be my cargo making the noise (I had a spare pair of axle shafts in a box so I assumed it might be them moving around in the box). After winch hill five I was stopped in a large pool of water from snow melt and I noticed a very light oil like sheen on the water. It could have come from any of us since I was the last vehicle.

After I got home and parked I soon noticed a six inch pool of motor oil on my garage floor. I crawled under my Jeep and discovered a small crack in my oil pan so I placed a pan under my Jeep to catch the leaking oil. I checked my oil level before going to bed and it was full. This morning there was a small pool of oil in the pan so I called and ordered an oil pan thinking how hard can it be to change out an oil pan on a Wrangler. I then watched a youtube video and discovered it's not as easy as one might think. Since the oil pan wasn't supposed to be in until early afternoon, I spent the entire morning cleaning up my muddy, dusty Jeep that was filled with about a million pine needles and leaves and about a pound of Fordyce silt on my driver side WeatherTech floor mat.

After watching a few videos after lunch I crawled back under my Jeep to see what the repair job might entail. Apparently you need to disconnect the exhaust and one video said that they had to cut the exhaust pipe to remove the oil pan. While under my Jeep I decided to do a general inspection (since the oil pan replacement job wasn't looking too promising) only to discover that my rear, upper control arm bracket has come completely off at the weld. I think I have discovered the source of the metallic sound I kept hearing. Hopefully I can get my son over to weld the bracket back on. As far as the oil pan goes, I might need to put out a request for help so I can go with Kris on the run that starts this Friday.

On the lighter side of my mechanical damage, after getting back on good dirt roads and picking up some speed I though I heard a motorcycle behind me. I then realized that my exhaust must have been crimped because that sound was coming from my Jeep. My tailpipe was so crushed I could barley get a large flathead screwdriver in their to open it up. Had to cut about four inches off of the tailpipe today to prevent it from happening again. Hey, at least I made it home before discovering most of my mechanical problems!

k-jeep said
Is there a flange at the header and one at the cat? That's how it was on my YJ, although routed differently. Also, if you have never replaced the rear main seal, might be a good time with the oil pan off. There's a thread here from when I did it on my YJ.
 

There is a flange at the header and one just before the cat. I didn't see the one at the cat because it was covered by my skid plate so it is only visible from the rear. I will try to unbolt it. Kathy is at the parts store now so I will have her get the rear main seal too. Thanks!

Brian, how was your trip to the Rubicon?