Here are a few more pics of the same thing just slightly diff. angles/views

 

I have done a lot of oil pan gaskets for your generation of truck. labour time is about 4hours for a 4wd iirc.
If you have the afm. and the afm shield has not been installed...do it now.

 

I was considering doing the AFM shield...but I am using the Range Technology AFM Disabler. Should I consider still installing the AFM shield? I'm not sure if this shop will know how to install it properly, assuming there is a certain way it needs to be installed. The garage where I'm having it done is a transmission shop, but they are fairly knowledgeable, but just not sure how knowledgeable they are on the AFM shield operation/installation.

Please let me know your thoughts b/c I will be bringing in the car tomorrow for them to do the oil pan gasket. I have found the part number for the AFM shield and the TSB...hopefully they can go off of that tsb document and will be ok.

Also got a question, there was mention of some rivets for the original oil pan gasket...from what I saw in the video I was watching...the guy drilled part of the divot out but said to not worry about putting anything in place of the divots. Another video suggested to drill out the divots completely and replace them with bolts that fit the divot holes...what is the correct thing to do?

 

its a simple cover that bolts on over the afm valve in the oil pan. I'm not sure if the valve still sprays oil up to the cylinders even if the system is disabled. the issue was the oil spray was overwhelming the oil control rings.
if the repair shop has Mitchell on demand or alldata they can print it off tsb 10-06-01-008M

shield pn 12639759

 

Thank you!

So just an update, I picked up the car today. From what I was told all went well with the AFM oil deflector install and the oil pan gasket change. I'll check the underside of the car in about a week. I feel pretty confident all my oil leaks have been solved *fingers crossed* And the cost wasn't as much as I was assuming it was going to be, it was about $460 just for the oil pan gasket R&R.

Thanks to all for your help and suggestions!

 

So just an update.... its been 8 days since I got the car back and I got under the car today with fingers crossed, lol. It seems that the leak has be resolved by replacing the oil pan gasket. Its dry as a bone under there, I'm so relieved! Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and lending their experiences to help me out!