A Little Advice Needed!
 

I have a 99 XLT 4.0 OHV manual tranny that has 201,000. Ive had the truck since 2001. As with anything things happen that need to be fixed. My truck has a couple issues that need to be fixed. I thought I needed ball joints but come to find out I only needed inner and outer tie rods. Ball joints are still in good shape. Im going to do the tie rods.

Another issue I have is valve covers need replacing but Im going to that. The biggest issue I have is oil pan gasket needs replacing and that involves either removing engine or jacking it up a little bit. I have a good friend that is a mechanic by trade. I took my truck to him today to get a price quote for oil pan gasket. He quoted me 750 to do the job. It is a 7.5 hr job. While I know that's expensive but it's not outrageous imo.

I guess my question/questions are these. With the engine out what other parts would be wise to change? Would it be wise to replace the rear main? How about the oil pump itself? It is 24 years old. What other gaskets maybe? What say ye?

"jacking it up a little bit" became "With the engine out". Which is it?

I've heard to replace the rear main seal and the clutch throw-out bearing whenever the engine and manual transmission is separated.
The slave cylinder, if it's otherwise inaccessible, might be a candidate for replacement too.

I know rebuilders measure clearances of disassembled oil pump parts to assess wear.
How to asses oil pump performance / aging with the pump in service, aside from measuring pressure, is something I do not know.
If it's at all questionable, replacing the oil pump -with a new, good (Motorcraft?) one- while you're looking at it makes sense to me.

I never said it was either, so nothing changed. I said, I heard of those two methods to change the oil pan gasket. Im not sure what method he's planning on using