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It’s possible to replace the bar with the subframe still bolted in place, but it’s time-consuming and -for me at least- frustrating. The last one I did I lowered the subframe a couple of inches for some extra wiggle room, but I’ve worked with some people who have done it without lowering the subframe. It also depends on how the tolerances stacked up when the car was being built at the factory, since all of them will be ever-so-slightly different, even if they are built by robots.
What I mean by tolerances, to use a Ford Focus as an example, some of them I can remove the alternator through the bottom by just bending a heat-shield and giving a good tug. Others, I need to bend a heat shield, unbolt the steering rack and shove it toward the read of the car and then give a good tug.
If the transmission isn’t doing anything abnormal, leave it alone. If it’s slipping, you’ll probably need to have it rebuilt. Like Eric mentioned in one of his Re: videos, changing high mileage transmission fluid is almost asking for trouble.
If you still want to go and replace the fluid anyway, the way I’d do it is to drop the transmission pan, clean off the old gasket material, clean out the pan, change the filter, install a new transmission pan gasket and then refill it with whatever fluid the manufacturer calls for, which I believe for your application is Dexron 3. Speaking from experience, do NOT use a “universal” ATF in that transmission, since it won’t shift right afterwards. My manager at work asked me to change the transmission fluid in his Avalanche using the “universal” fluid that the corporate office supplies, and his truck doesn’t shift right anymore. It’s gotten better since I switched it back to Dex 3, but it’s still not as good as it was before I put in the “universal” stuff.
It’s also possible that the grease was there from when a CV boot split and was then later replaced but the grease never cleaned up.
I’ve been using the same $40 set of Craftsman shallow impact sockets for the past 10 years without a single one breaking.
The long barrel air hammers tend to be more powerful, but there are times when you need the short barreled one.
Something else you may want to consider, should you decide to buy those transmissions is this. It may be worth it to you to take one or both of those transmission to a transmission shop and have them tested to see if they’re any good, and to have them rebuilt/repaired as needed. Also, provided that those transmissions will fit in your van, if you have both of them rebuilt, you’ll have a spare that you know will work.
It wasn’t today, but about a month ago, which was the last time I did anything to my car other than drive it, I replaced the RR wheel bearing, all four struts, brake pads and rotors at both ends, rotated the tires, changed the oil and the aligned it. 
I imagine you could look on Google weather-stripping, or if you’re more of a DIY-on-the-cheap kind of person, you could fabricate some yourself out of dense, water-resistant foam.