Valve cover

Went to change out the valve cover gasket tonightand am having a problem. My Tahoe has a/c and because of the whole a/c unit I cant get the valve cover off .

No problem.
Take the belt off.
Leave the air cond hoses hooked up just.
Remove the compresser from it mounting bracket and set it over to one side.
MT

The bracket is whats in the way. Heres some pics

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=3/7616183450.jpg&s=x11
http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=3/7616180728.jpg&s=x11
http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=3/7616174492.jpg&s=x11

Well, the pictures were a little unclear because they were so close up... But I went outside and looked at my 98 and I see what you mean now.

You may just have to remove that whole bracket, as big of a pain as that may be. I can't believe they engineered that like that though...

So, I'm assuming you already tried lifting the valve cover slightly up off the sealing lip and sliding it back away from the bracket? It looks like that is pretty close from what I can tell.

Yup tried and it seems so close but just not enough space. The chiltons book or whatever it is I have says nothing about it.Tells you to remove this that and another, but nothing about the A/C. So it makes me think that I shouldnt have to do anything with it. ?
Yeah engineers, I swear sometims they design things in a way just to fk with people