Rear Main Seal (continued) Before starting this step remove the dipstick from the engine. This prevents it from getting damaged while removing the oil pan. Next, drain the oil.
Now get your 11 and 13 millimeter sockets with various size extensions and crawl under the Jeep. You need to remove a total of 28 bolts from the oil pan. The bolts on the corners will be 13 mm and the remaining bolts will be 11 mm. Keep track of which holes contain the stub bolts so you can reinsert them in their proper location.
As you're removing the bolts, notice that the bolts in the back also retain a brace that can be seen in the image below. The brace partially covers the oil pan bolt, but you can push through it with you socket. When you remove both bolts the sleeve will come off. Take note of the direction the sleeve is installed so you can reinstall it properly.
After all the bolts are removed the oil pan will probably try to fall out. If it doesn't, then tap is lightly with a rubber mallet. Set the pan aside. The image below shows the rear brace that was mentioned earlier.
You are now looking at the bottom end of the engine.
On my Jeep, a main cap girdle was installed. To remove the girdle, remove the 14 bolts with a 14 millimeter socket. Once the bolts are removed, the girdle can be removed and set aside. Next we'll need to remove the main cap from the rear-most crankshaft journal. This can be done with a 13/16 inch socket. To remove the cap, loosen the nuts, but don't take them out entirely. Once the nuts are loosened, wiggle or tap the cap and it will let loose. Once this is done, remove both nuts and gently remove the cap. In the picture below, I removed the nut from one side, but left the other in place. Then, I used a small rubber mallet to lightly tap on the cap.
Once the nuts have been removed, the rear cap can be removed. The orange pieces in the image below are the rear main seal. The piece that is in the cap is called the lower main seal and the piece that is in the engine is the upper.
Finally, we're getting to the good part, the actual removal of the rear seal. First, let's remove the seal from the cap because this will give you an idea of how to remove the upper piece that is still in the Jeep. In the image below, notice how the rear main seal is positioned. The slotted end is facing towards the engine. This makes sense because if the slotted end faced out if would be pushed down by oil pressure and there would be a BIG leak.
To remove the seal, use a screwdriver to brake the seal from the ends. When the seal is installed, silicon is applied to the end and this silicon sticks to the cap. Once the seal is loose on both ends of the cap, you can push down on the metal that is in the seal to make it rotate around. I've scraped away the top layer of rubber from the seal so you can see the metal in the seal (it's the little round shiny part in the top of the seal). Just use a drift to tap the seal out.
Next, we'll remove the seal that is still in the engine. Remember how the metal was used to tap against? We'll do the same thing to remove the other seal. Basically, tap on one end until the seal protrudes enough from the other. Then, use a pair of needle nose pliers to pull the seal out. Be very, very careful with the drift and the hammer so the crankshaft and bearings are not damaged. Make sure you are tapping on the metal part of the seal like we did before. The following images show the sequence:
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