crh
08-28-2010, 06:58 PM
During an 'o-ring kit' install, I spied a pait of opposing semicircular 'tabs' underneath my 1998 XC, while it was on the lift the other day, getting an o-ring kit install (the smaller o-ring WAS getting 'sucked' inwards, out of its groove, and the larger one was almost *brittle*, so even though it did absolutely nothing to fix the noisy lifter ticking, it needed doing, anyway), in order to drop the oil pan, unless one of 'em is temporarily bent downwards about 20 degrees, it's difficult to do so. Those folded sheet-metal 'tabs' or 'ears', they extend about 3.5"-4" inwards from the frame rail towards the car's centerline, at about the... yeah, you guessed it... the oilpan area of the front subframe... WTF are these things? They're doubled-up sheet metal, not strong by any means, but they aren't supporting anything, are only attached to the frame rails, actually they look to be a stamped/thinned extensions of the subframe's metal 'rails', pressed together and shaped like a big thumb: rounded at the inward ends and with a round cutout in each, about .5" smaller in diameter than the tab is wide... any ideas? He did NOT bend it down, at my instruction... he got the pan down just fine a minute later... but these tabs are obviously there for a*some*reason, I guess... I'd sure like to know WTF it is! :D