yes..yes...and yes... I recently pulled the motor and left the tranny in the car. I followed all the procedures for complete removal including the shifter coupling. The tranny came down at a nice angle and the motor came out with no problems. Once the motor was out I simply put a jackstand under the tranny just to support the weight. The only tricky part was putting it back in and getting the fork onto the throughout bearing correctly. It only took 2 tries.
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Greg-slant/cab
http://www.geocities.com/gregslantcab/