98 Tahoe How hard is it to replace to water pump?

Hope to hear from you guys I have to replace the water pump and would like to it by my self the dealer asked 360.00$$$ Can I do it without specific tools?

The only problem was taking the big nut off of the fan pulley...had to strap down the old one to my table...took me about 2 hours from start to finish.

Some people have used strap wrenches to help remove the fan clutch, I made up a couple pieces of flat iron to fasten to the belt pulley to get some leverage. Clean the gasket surfaces well and check the tensioner to make sure it doesn't move towards the front or to the back, just up and down- if you can move it front to back, replace it before it blows up going down the road. A pic of the flat iron wrench(need 2) http://www.mhtc.net/~jbomkamp/fan.jpg

Pay the $24.00 for the fan removal tool it's well worth it, and it works aon all the newwer cars Ford etc.. One of the nice things about the newer Chevy's is you don't really have to remove everything to get at the water pump. You will have to lay the A.C. compressor out of the way. Just remove the nuts and slide the brackets with the alt, and P.S. pump away from the front of the engine. I hadn't done a Chevy in a long time and was really surprised how easy it was. Took about 4 hours, not counting, getttin the parts I needed.

On a 98 you shouldn't have to move anything, other than the shroud and the fan clutch bs. Did you have to drive 2 hours to get the parts?

Like I said, this was the first Chevy I had worked on in a LOOOONG time. Was making sure I didn't mess up. Also I did have to in the middle of working on it go get the fan tool and it is a 1/2 hour ride each way.

It took me 4 hours from warm engine to back on the road, I wedged a prybar between the chassis and one of the screws on the pulley so it wouldn't turn and undid the big 1-5/8 with a wrench, didn't have to remove the AC compressor just the shroud. Overall it was pretty easy and I replaced the belt and hoses for a total of 95$ in parts.
Should I use exclusevly DEX-Cool coolant or any generic antifreeze is good?
Thanks to all for the help