I have pulled trannys many times lying on my back. It helps to have the car up as high as possible and a good tranny jack. I always start by draining the pan, usually messy if you don't have a drain plug. If you don't drain you may knock the dip stick lose during removal and have a bigger mess. Next use a remote starter switch to rotate the motor and disconnect the torque converter bolts to the flex plate. Now you can pull the starter, the nut on top of the starter is a pain but can usually be reached with a swivel and an extension. Then I remove the drive shaft and the rear tranny mount and bracket with a jack support under the motor. Allow the motor/tranns to tilt toward the ground making sure that the distributor does not hit the firewall. Now you have easy access to the cooler lines,the linkage, nuetral switch wire and speedo cable. The easy part now is to remove the bell housing bolts using a 30inch extension and a 9/16 swival sockect you can reach the bolts from as far back as the tail shft. Make sure your tranny jack is under the tranns. Slide apart and replace the converter. I will usually replace the front seal also.
Jack