The "Banana" Oil Pan

[3500GMC]

^^Haha, I'm with ya dude! :hihi:

 

[turbovanman]

It looks like a good design, with a lot of thought put into it. I never really noticed the issue with my oil pan. I'll check when the weather warms up a bit. I am surprised that the GM design team did not pick up on something like that. Common sense always says drain liquid from the lowest point.

2 cups is nothing.

The hump is for clearance for the crossmember for 4WD trucks. I never noticed it until yesterday when I was working on an 06 with a 4" suspension lift kit which lowers it down, and voila, there it is.

 

[RI Chevy Silveradoman]

Your right. 2 cups really isn't much. But I am still wondering why the GM design/engineering team would design the pan like that for just 2 extra cups. :???:

I am with you guys too. I usually just ride the truck on ramps or a few blocks in the front to give me a little extra clearance. I will try and tilt the truck in the front to one side to get the "extra" dirty oil out next change.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Actually it was one of those things left over from when they considered putting the DURAMAX into the GMT-400. I'm pretty sure there was adequite room from the pan to the diff in the newer trucks when I tore my donor truck down that teh hump wasn't needed. GM designed the DURAMAX to fit into the GMT-400 trucks, theres no question about it once you put one into one. It was a known fact that they used GMT-400's as test trucks for the first DURAMAX engines, and made things into them that wasn't needed for the newer GMT-800's, but they kept them anyways. A good example is the dimple in the drivers side exhaust manifold. There was nothing anywhere near close to the manifold in the 01+ trucks, yet teh dimple was there. You can see from my pics that dimple happens to be in the PERFECT spot to clear the GMT-400's steering shaft, and is required in the older trucks ONLY. Another example is the aluminum upper oil pan in the front has a trough in it to clear the steering linkage. On the 01+ trucks the linkage was a good few inches away, but in mine the linkage is only a 1/2 inch away. that hump in the oil pan allows the front diff in my truck to fit up next to the engine, but in the newer trucks the engine sets higher and didn't look to me like it was needed.

So GM had a need for the hump at one point, but later on didn't need it yet, yet it remained.

 

[Mad Maxx]

My Driveway is on an Angle, so I prob. have less than 2 Cups in the Pan by the time I'm done.