pull the engine with the transmission. as long as you have a load leveler life will be much easier. You have to hoist the engine quite high to get it to clear, but it beats crawling under the car to remove the tranny beforehand..you would also have to unbolt the torque converter from the flexplate to get it to come free...all of this is much easier to do when all is out of the vehicle. FSM also says remove tranny with engine for what it's worth.

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1982 300TD 210K miles ("The Replacement" aka "The Anvil") - SOLD
1979 300SD 245K miles (never ending project)
2007 Pinarello F3:13
1995 Ducati 916 (SOLD, sniff)
1999 Ducati 900SSie (SOLD)