Thanks for the advice, stevebfl (but then again, I'm a masochist). Sorry you were having a bad hair day yesterday.

I'm strictly a home mechanic. I don't have a lift. I'm working on the floor of my garage, with the car up on jack stands, using a creeper. One of my least favorite things is pulling a transmission like that. I guess it's a lot easier if you have a lift. That's no doubt why I prefer to pull an engine rather than transmission.