Is my engine dead?

Thor,

I can pull the oil pan out of my '74 Ramcharger without even jacking the engine up, but it takes a little "manipulation" if you know what I mean. On the other hand, You should be able to pull the timing cover after removing the front 4 bolts, allowing the pan to drop just a hair. You could then use carb cleaner to flush out your pan, and button it up with a timing cover gasket set that comes with the two short cork pan gasket ends. The downside to this is you won't be able to get the pickup tube and screen.

In all honesty, if you want a good RELIABLE plow truck, I would recommend yanking that sucker out and checking everything, especially since it has enough miles to skip teeth. There's got to be a buttload of debris cruising around inside that engine. Clean everything out and check the crank, rod and crank bearings, bore taper and add a set a KB 107 flat tops and bore if necessary. Check out the valve guides and valve seats and do a basic valve job. Add a cam with 205 to 210 degrees duration at .050 lift with a good (name brand like Cloyes) double roller timing chain and you'll be good for another 100,000 miles for really not that much money. Oh yeah, replace your oil pump with a stock volume unit and clean your pickup. It'll be a stout unit and you should be able to pull 300 horses at sea level at the crank pretty easy with awesome low end torque.