2015 Tahoe 4WD LH Motor Mount=PITA

Captain Insaino · April 18, 2020

I am not sure if I just missed the threads or write ups for an L83 4WD or just no one was dumb enough to do it themselves.

I am a little surprised at the lack of info on the latest models. I watched the vids and read the threads that were available. Mostly last gen and 2WD. Seemed pretty straightforward. I assumed that the lack of info probably meant that it was very similar to the new models. It is not.

I am by no means what I would consider to be a talented mechanic, however I have pulled off some pretty sketchy ****** like LS based head, motor, trans and rear end swaps and suspension builds alone with just hand tools in a tiny garage.

Without guidance I was just forced to figure it out as I went. This seemingly simple “me versus a few bolts” turned out to be a pretty big headache.

Long story short, I ended up pulling the front driveline, exhaust manifold heat shield, forward most plug wire, skid plates, trans mount bolts, vacuum pump, steering shaft and front tire just to get to the bottom block bolts. Top bolts were easy. If LS motors weren’t notorious for breaking exhaust manifold bolts, pulling the manifold would’ve honestly made the job very easy.

If you are a weekend warrior with basic hand tools do yourself a favor and invest in various length, and wall thickness 15MM and 13MM sockets 3/8 and 1/2 drive with a multitude of wobblies and extensions. I mean ALL of them! An articulating head set of ratchets and gear wrenches would not hurt.

I needed two people. One to hold and stabilize the socket, wobblies and extensions from above, below and/or through the firewall and the other to crank the ratchet. You each probably only have room for one arm at a time.You just have to try a multitude of different angles from different directions with different length combinations of sockets, extensions and ratchets. The mount bumps and tabs are the biggest obstacles for getting a clean bite on the bolt heads.

Sorry I did not think to do a write up as I was doing it, because light was fading and had to hurry. I was quoted over $800 for just labor. In retrospect, it’s probably worth it. OK, enough bitching about me getting my ass handed to me. Happy wrenching!