First, there's a special place of misery that awaits the engineer who put that spark plug there. This is the first time I've done a tune up. I let my mechanic do it last time and to be honest for the 60-80 bucks it would have cost me....IT'S WORTH IT! However, now that I've done it I have a few tips.

Remember that the steering shaft is oblong and has a flat side. Have someone turn the steering wheel to get the flat side down to give you a little extra room.

Go ahead and take the dang tire off, it's going to give you some extra room to maneuver in that area. I had ZERO issues with the 3 plugs on the passenger side with the tire on though.

I couldn't for the life of me get my 3/8" drive to wedge in enough to be able to turn the spark plug socket. In addition, I fought and fought to get an angled socket adapter in there and I just never could get it in there.

What I ended up doing was taking my 3/8" drive, reducing down to 1/4" then adding a 1/4" extender. I then put a 1/4" to 3/8" on the other end....popped in and removed/installed the new spark plug with little further issue. The 1/4" extenders shaft diameter is small enough to give you that little extra room needed in that area.

 

Why fight it? Just take the steering shaft loose at the gear box and move it up out of the way. You just have to snap off the plastic cover and remove one bolt.

If you think that #3 spark plug is bad to get at..... my personal favorites are the location of the fuel line clamp bolt on the rear of the driver's side head (hint - unbolt and pull the head or entire engine forward for access) and the middle bolt for the bellhousing on the driver's side (go through the floor, lower the back of the trans, or raise the body are the only ways. I find the top bellhousing bolt on the drivers side doable at 1/16 turn at a time or less, but it's definitely a real wrench eating location if you drop your wrench!

 

My worst encounter were the electrical grounds at the back of the heads. A real pain to get off and then back on.

 

I thought that fuel line clamp bolt was below the grounds on the drivers side head.... didn't you have to deal with it as well? If removing engine, just lift it off the mounts and move forward for room to work on back of heads. Probably more difficult when pulling the heads with engine in place, but I imagine one could unbolt each head from the block and move it forward to get at the grounds (reverse going back in but careful not to damage the gasket or get stuff where it shouldn't be).

 

i just take the steering shaft off. ive tried so many different techniques and some of them work after messing around for a while . i learned its just easier to take the 3 minutes and take the shaft off... unless the sliding part is frozen then you are out of luck

 

mine are super easy now that the body lift is on the truck. go in between the frame and the body through the wheel well and BAM.. DONE! took me 10 minutes to change ALL my plugs last go round.

 

The last time I changed mine, I supported the engine with a jack and removed the bolt from the driver's side motor mount and then moved it up or down, I can't remember. It was pretty easy though once the motor mount was loose.