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Dropping the pack on a Model S/X is actually very simple. The original design intention before there were thousands of superchargers all over the world was to have the packs themselves hot-swappable. When the battery ran low, you would pull into a 'Jiffy-Lube' style service center and they would remove your pack and install a fully charged one in a few minutes. Tesla even built one of these battery stations in California and swapped a pack or two to prove the concept and qualify for a tax break. Obviously, our ownership experience would be VERY different if there was no such thing as a battery failure because you were essentially driving around on a pack borrowed from Tesla. For better or worse, we own the packs in our cars so we need to keep them running.
Below is the basic process for dropping a pack in a standard home garage. Installing the pack is basically the reverse of this except you need to be MUCH more careful to line everything up so the rapid mates connect without damaging them.
Editorial Note: I recently helped with a pack install using a 2 post lift. To be fair, I don't have a bunch of experience using a lift and a shop doing battery swaps all the time is certainly going to use one but that said, we spent way more time repositioning the car to get the lift pads *just right* so they didn't interfere with battery going in/out than the time it would have taken to just do the job with 4 floor jacks. For a novice doing this once or for the first time, the floor jacks and a handy helper are actually easier to work with.
Supplies Needed
Supplies Needed
You need a lot of various things to complete any major project but as a broad overview, you need 4 good floor jacks, 2 ramps, 2 heavy duty jack stands and 4 small furniture dollies. Read ahead and understand the process before you start and end up getting stuck. If it wasn't stated specifically, you do need two adjacent garage bays - one for the car and the other to roll the battery out. A single car garage or a tandem layout would be much harder to work with. You could also do the pack removal on a flat driveway but you do need a covered area to work on the pack.
Get the Car Up
Get the Car Up
Lift the car a bit and safely remove the plastic undertray covering the rear motor and subframe. There are a couple of plastic clips and a series of 10mm bolts and screws holding it up. This is the cover you remove to check the speed sensor for coolant described here. Once the rear subframe is exposed, you can lift the car fully by placing the 4 jack pucks in place and raising each corner with one of your jacks. A helper is very useful anytime you are using the jacks.
Place the ramps under the front wheels but 'backwards' so the ramp faces the front. You will need the area behind the front wheels to maneuver the pack out later. Place the jack stands under the thicker part of the rear subframe behind the motor. Place each on the outer edge near the vertical piece. Later, you will want to be able to get your torso between them. Any time you have a car in the air, give it a good shove to make sure it doesn't move. If it moves at all, it isn't stable so fix that first. Remove the rear wheel on the side you are going to roll the battery out. The left side works best for reinstalling if you have the option.
Battery Pack Fasteners
Battery Pack Fasteners
This image is borrowed from James Williams, one of the Facebook group's regular contributors. It is handy because it has the torque specs for all of the bolts that hold the pack up under the Model S/X and also because it identifies them. It is no fun to get to the stage when you lower the jack only to have a corner or side of the pack stay where it is while the jack drops down. Instead of a lift table mentioned in his diagram, we are going to put a floor jack under each corner. Methodically remove the fasteners until the pack is only supported by the floor jacks. Avoid having your body under the car without the floor jacks to support the pack - and certainly don't be underneath as you release the last few fasteners at the corners.
The Drop
The Drop
A helper is really handy here so you don't need to keep doing laps around the car. Lower the pack a tiny bit on each side and confirm you can see it move relative to the car. If it 'sticks' and doesn't drop at one side/corner, it isn't glue or dirt - you forgot a fastener so don't drop one side/end thinking the other will break loose any minute. Once you are sure it is moving at each corner, lower the pack in small increments front to back until the top of the pack is visible. At this point, your rapidmates have completely disengaged so some coolant might be dribbling from the car side. Place the furniture dollies at each corner and lower the pack onto the dollies.
Congratulations! The pack is now on the ground. You have completed the easiest part of the process. Roll it out into the next garage bay. A bit of coolant might have dribbled out of the rapidmate and the car side might continue to drip a bit. Wipe it up and put a bucket under the car side while you are working on the pack. Don't let Rover drink it please - it is toxic.
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