Review on 🔧 Dorman 917-107 Exhaust Manifold Repair Clamp: OE FIX for Select Models by Reza Cook

5.3L 4WD Tahoe. Great part, but insanely difficult to assemble due to the lack of clearance. Here's what finally worked for me after hours of frustration. Be prepared to walk a few times and find your quiet spot. You are trying to drive 2 screws that you can barely touch with your fingertips into 2 invisible holes in a place where there is no room for a socket or wrench. Expect frequent dropped screws and parts. You have to work from above and below, going back and forth many times. The best advice came from Ernie's review. Resetting the front driveshaft to 4WD was the best advice of all. Here's what I did. Raise the speedometer just enough for my guts to fit underneath. 4 Remove 11mm from the front of the driveshaft. Slide the driveshaft back and let it hang. You don't have to remove it. I needed some wd40 and a pry bar to remove the rust from the front. Now you can see the two screw holes on the head, which you can only feel from above. Remove heat shield! It's a pain and you'll only get 1/4 inch clearance, but you'll need everything. 3 x 10mm nuts hold the heat shield. Two can be seen and reached from below. The third is hidden behind the steering column and you have to reach it from above. Now the hardest part for me was holding the part in place and trying to blindly fish out the bolt holes. The weight of the piece causes it to fall just when you think you'll hit the bolt. To solve this problem I used smaller screws as pins to secure the bracket in the screw holes. The 11mm from the drive shaft worked great. I used a magnet grip to hold the bracket in place while I attached it with smaller screws. That way it was in place and the weight was supported so I only had to work on one bolt at a time. I went upstairs and found that I now have enough room to get my thumb up to the top bar. I took a bolt and screwed in the top screw. I tightened it with my finger and went back under it. With the bracket held in place, it was much easier to get the bottom screw to work. I ended up using a 14mm head, a swing and about 18" 3/8" extensions to screw it in. You can do this with a wrench, but expect it to move 1/16th of a turn at a time I tightened both bolts with a wrench after they were fully seated. There is no room or need for a torque wrench. These bolts are side loaded and are quite tight. Hope some of this helps. This is a good part and a great solution. I know how to get heads out and broken bolts. It was just as good. The best part is you can leave at any time and still have a vehicle to drive. If you pull heads you will likely break or break something . If you don't have another vehicle, you're stuck. Good luck, take your time and trust me, it will work. Eventually :-)