Rear main seal - leaking at 5,800 miles

[Geotrash]

This seems crazy to me. I've been a backyard mechanic for about 20 years and have pulled many engines, transmissions and whatnot and to me pulling an engine is a massive undertaking compared to pulling a transmission. Lots of work involved with unhooking wires, emissions stuff, coolant hoses, AC lines, exhaust, removing body panels etc...But who knows on these newer vehicles maybe it is easier. I've heard that on some of the newer trucks the best course of action is to remove the cab of the truck to access the engine which also seems crazy to me

That's true for some of the diesels. But I've looked under these new rigs and see no difference forward of the rear driveshaft from our GMT900's in terms of serviceability from below. Still have the same removable front crossmember below the transmission, etc. It's probably necessary to remove the intake manifold to get to the top bellhousing bolts, but that's easier with ours also. I'm calling BS on the dealer :-D