Durallymax
New member
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2007
- Messages
- 224
How to Remove your LB7 Duramax
For starters some of you reading this may not think you will ever need to pull your motor. However I can say that if you plan to do something like a turbo swap and head studs at the same time, removing the engine will make things much easier and will give you less chances for things to go wrong, again just my opinion though.
Your probably wondering, do you need to be a full time mechanic? Not necessarily, I would say this is for people with moderate experience, but the biggest part is having some experience and knowledge and just being comfortable with removing your motor and realizing that hey, sometimes you’ll mess up but that’s how you learn and in the long run you are still saving money.
So what all is needed to remove it? If you have access to a car lift it will make things nice but it is not necessary. A cherry picker(engine hoist) is a must and you will want one that has a long reach and extends fairly high in the air, also make sure it can handle the weight of the Duramax about 1,100lbs assembled if i remember correctly. For the rest you will need basic hand tools mostly metric from 8mm-19mm. The only really special tool you will need are some fuel line disconnect tools, which are cheap and available everywhere.
Now let’s get started.
How To Do It
2.Now that you will have the passenger side tire and fender liner out of the way, go to the drivers side and remove the wheel and fender liner on that side using a 22mm or 7/8" socket and body clip removal tools if you have them. There are wiring harnessess that fasten the to the fender liner so be sure to unhook them.
3.Now raise the hood into the service position. I suggest getting a helper, the hoods heavy. If you are tall like me you can hold it by hand and use your head to support it while installing the nuts and bolts. To do this first remove the ground wire running from the firewall to the hood using a 10mm then remove the bolts that connect the springs to the hood using 13mm tools and then flip the hood so that it is perpendicular to the floor, now you should be able to put the bolts through the service position holes in the hood and into the springs. And you now have plenty of room and light to work with, without removing the hood.
4.Now you will want to disconnect the frontpipe if you haven’t already using an 11mm deep well. These are locknuts so an air ratchet will help save your hands.
5.If you do not have your batteries disconnect yet, disconnect them using an 8mm wrench.
6.Now you want to remove your air intake tube by unplugging the MAF sensor, and loosening the two clamps on each end of the tube using a 7mm. NOTE: On 2002-2004 LB7s there will be an additional clamp which goes to the turbo resonator, this will need to be loosened as well. On stock setups the air box wont be in the way.
7.Now we want to drain the radiator, to do so there is a plug on the lower passenger side of the radiator that you can remove to drain it, it does not have a hex head or anything, just simple use a pliers to loosen it, it is not very tight. But prior to draining the radiator make sure that you have a way to channel the fluid into a container. I like to use the aluminum section of an old drivers side CAC tube I have laying around. But basically you need something to get the coolant to flow down instead of straight out. Once you get a way to channel the fluid, remove the cap from the overflow bottle to speed up the drain time. Reinstall the plug for now.
Front Clip Removal
2.Now you should have access to the one bolt and snap in tabs that hold the grille on. Remove the bolt using a 10mm, then compress the 4 green tabs that mount the grille to the headlight towers and pull them out. The grille is also fastened to the fenders on both sides. Remove the grille from these two points. You can get acess to these from inside the fender well. With these disconnect you should be able to finesse the grill assembly off. This is for GMC Grilles, Chevys may be different.
3.Now with that out of the way you can remove the 3 bolts holding the hood latch on using a 10mm. There is also a spot where the cable has a push in Christmas tree style holdown that you will want to yank out. Then swing the assembly to the side out of the way. NOTE: If you do not see where the bolts originally were, make marks, this is essential so that the hood latch lines up right upon reinstallation.
4.Now you want to remove your headlight assemblys. Many should be familiar with this but if not, there are pins that hold the headlights in. On GMCs there are two vertical pins, simple rotate them 90* and pull them up. On Chevys there is on horizontal pin, again simple rotate this pin and pull it out. Then disconnect the harnesses from the light bulbs.
5.Now remove the marker lamp assemblys. To do this compress the push in tab on the outside of each assembly the swing it forward and out. Now remove the 3 bulbs in it and set the assembly aside.
6.Now you will want to remove the Headlight support towers. These are held on with a few bolts requiring a 10mm, and each side has 2 bolts requiring a torx bit. Remove both sides and set aside. Both sides are mirrors of each other, the pic below is the drivers side.
7.Now you will have one wire left, it is the outside air temp sensor which is mounted on the radiator support A-Frame tower, disconeect the wire and the tabs that hold it to any part of the front clip along its path and swing it to the side out of the way.
8.Now your pretty much done but still need to remove the upper fan shroud. To do this you will first need to remove the TCM. To do this remove the two bolts that secure it to the radiator brace using a 10mm. Next simply unplug both of the connectors and set the TCM assembly aside. Now remove the 4 body clips that connect the two halves of the shroud, there are two on each side. Next pull the A/C line out of its mount on the passenger side of the upper fan shroud. Finally, remove the rest of the bolts that fasten the shroud to the radiator brace then remove the shroud and set aside.