Rear Main Seal/oil pan gasket...what is this thing that fell out?

The rms and oil pan gasket are pretty straightforward jobs I think, especially considering the engine is out. I have two questions though...first, when I dropped the pan, that little metal bracket thing (pictured above) fell out...what the heck is it and where does it belong?



Second, I know I need to remove the bearing cap to reveal the rms, but there seems to be a bracket that isn't detailed in my manual or any videos I've found on the rms job for a 4.0. Do I need to remove all 14 bolts holding it on to be able to remove the bearing cap or will the 2 bolts for the bearing cap be sufficient and provide enough clearance to get to the rms?

Thanks for the help, with travel and waiting on different parts and work, this swap is taking forever lol.

It is called the girdle. You will need to remove it.

old_man said:

It is called the girdle. You will need to remove it.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the quick reply. My Haynes book doesn't note the girdle- torque specs on the bearing cap are 80ft/lbs, do you happen to know what the girdle bolts should be tightened to?

35 ft lb

The little metal bracket is the support which bridges the two rear pan bolts across the main bearing cap. (goes outside the pan)

As Overland stated, it's external to the pan, not internal and installs where he says it goes. So it fell off, not out.

Andy

Great, thanks guys, the pan kind of dropped a bit once the last bolt came off and that metal bracket hit the ground before I could figure out where it came from.

Of all the dirty jobs I've done on mine, the RMS was the dirtiest.