Ford 3000 dented up oil pan

Looking for advice. My Ford 3000 diesel has a dented up steel oil pan.
Should hold 8 quarts (says my manual), only holds 6 1/4 to full mark.

Should I fix that? Well just having dented parts bugs me. And the
replacement oil pans are cheap. If I can find it, would a cast iron pan be better?

And oh, tractor was like that when I got it in march, I didn't do it.

What kind of task is a Ford 3000 Diesel oil pan replacement.
I don't have a service manual, it looks easy, flat all around no tricky
stuff at front and rear bearings. Is this so?

Oil pressure is 72 psi cold, down to 61 psi when hot. This seems good to me. I was kicking around idea of Plasti-Gaging the bearings when the pan is off. I have given up that idea. I might cause more trouble than worth. I have not touched a main or rod bearing in years, and never on my back with engine installed. But are there any non-destructive checks I could perform while the pan is off? I could check crank shaft and rods end play. Is there a wiggle test for loose rod bearings?
Is it possible to shim gauge test sleeve to piston clearance? The tractor has a lot of blow by, maybe that is normal
for the 3 cylinder Fords. I would check to see if oil pickup tube has been bent also.

So leave it alone with dents and almost 1/2 gallon short on oil, or fix it? If fix it, what else to check while in there?

Sounds easy enough to change the pan, that would probably be a worthwhile investment. Just clean all the gasket surfaces, be sure to get the gasket right, should be no problem. Replacing the oil pick up would be a good idea.

As for checking bearing clearances, no, I would not take anything apart. With that good oil pressure, leave well enough alone! LOL

The blow-by, how bad is it? If it isn't blowing oil out the vent tube, or consuming oil, you probably have a good bit of life left in it. But when the time comes, best to do a complete, professional, by the book rebuild. Diesels are very unforgiving of shortcuts.

I have soldered nuts to dented pans and used a slide hammer to repair dents. Do a compression test and test with a vacuum gauge before you attempt any repairs.

Ooooops, I didn't note your working on a diesel, forget the vacuum test.

There is no oil pickup tube on 3 cyl. Bottom of oilpump is suction. I have a cast pan but shipping is kinda pricey.

I really don't know how to characterize the amount of blow by.
I feel it at the oil fill cap. When oil fill cap is secured, then I
feel it out the "road tube". It is a lot more than other engines I own.
Also the blow by is apparently condensing in that tube, I get a drop of clear water
about every 3 seconds.
But it starts well, will idle down low.

I had a bent up pan on a 480e backhoe. Ran it that way for over a year. But I put the right amount of oil in it. It never hurt it with that much oil in it after the stick pushed it up. When I took the old one off the oil pickup tube was being hit by a crankshaft counter weight. But hadn't wore it through yet.

Personally I wouldn't give it a second thought.... I'd probably fill it a bit over full on the stick tho. Not too far or it will just burn it down tho.
I suppose if the bent pan really bugs you... you could take it off and use a couple of 4x4's and a maul to pound it flat. I would not worry about the cast pan. That was intended as a structural member for the light industrial models, not the AP that you have. I'd also leave the bearings alone, and the piston clearance... unless it's burning a pile of oil. Then you could think about doing something with it.

Rod

I would not touch it unless it was leaking oil or had low pressure.

Fwiw I have a crazy big dent in the oan of one of mine​. I put the correct amount of oil and it burned down to a spot on the stick. After a few years I decided to file a new "full" mark on the stick and move on with life. Been about 10 years now and no trouble.

Replaced the oil pan on my 3000 last winter, not hard at all. Most difficult part was cleaning the old gasket off the block. Mine was dented and had a crack just below the drain plug that was leaking. Bought a new aftermarket off eBay and it fit perfect.

What year is your 3000?
You can't run a ci pan on the later ones as the bolster and pan interfere.
I just made a post about this on the Ford board.
Here's another photo that I didnt post there.

Click here

Even tho you are getting full pressure are you getting full oil flow? I lost a 98 Buick after getting a dented oil pan, first time it took a crank and oil pan was straightened. second time it did not get repaired as was wife's car and was in shop when she died of a heart atack. So are you shure nothing is hitting pan any place and not having a partial oil flow?

The tractor is a 1971 AG tractor, has power steering and live PTO -delux!
I did worry that the dents could be disrupting oil flow.
I didn't want to fill it too high over the dipstick, was afraid the crank would churn up oil into foam.
So I will relax, and put this on the growing list of things to fix.
Amazing how butchered machines get over time.
Thanks for the help.