I used an endoscope camera to see the bolt and enough extensions (every last 3/8 I had in the shop to get to it from behind thge transfer case wher you have room to swing a ratchet. Standard chevy bolt pattern stuff. But it's really awful and worse than it needs to be, especially on things that aren't full sized trucks.

That's about how much you need to do it.

Also, the wiring harness has no connector in the engine compartment to the parts that go down to the transmission so you're pulling it all off both sides of the motor. It's a complete sh show that leaves you working through the fenders forever on reassembly.

It's a poorly thought out setup with a motor they just crammed in as cheaply as possible.

 

Same situation, really thinking about lighting this truck on fire.

 

got all bolts out of mine but bell housing wont budge hav transfer case off too

 

Huge pain in the ass… thanks for the tip. I’ll look into it

 

Hey dude. You can do it.

Get a coolant cable clamp removal tool to get the coolant pipes off the intake side of the engine. Also clip the zipties and pull the harness out of the way

Get the starter out and you can get the right upper jut. Also get a medium deep well socket to engage the nuts.

You should be clear from there... Fucking sucks

 

I’m in your same shoes. Struggling with these bolts… I beginning to wonder if it’s easier to remove the transmission and engine as one unit. Rather than separating the engine from transmission. Though that’s a mighty heavy lift

 

Follow-up... to not have to remove the transmission you need to remove the heater hoses from the right side of the pipes. Once you get those out you can remove the nuts... you then cannot remove the transmission bolts and have to sneak the heater pipes out from the passenger side. You then have access to remove the bolt...

This engine is really tight in that truck.

 

Socket extension and bloody hands.
the correct way would be to unhook all wiring harnesses. lift the cab off of the frame and you can remove everything you want, not quite as simple as a reach around but if your removing and replacing the engine it makes things alot easier in the long run.
What happened to your original engine? What are you replacing it with?