Has anyone with a thirdgen ever pulled a flexplate out without removing entirely the trans or motor? I need to get my flexplate repositioned on the crank since I didn't do that and the 400 engine vibrates horribly. Talk about a stupid mistake on my part, anyway I have the trans unbolted from the motor and torque convertor unbolted as well and I have most anything that needs to be taken off or loosened and was wondering if put my jack and trans pan holder in place and take the trans cross member off if I can get enough distance by pushing the trans back into the yoke and torque arm to pull the bolts out. We're only talking about 2". Any advice or ideas for a 52 year old gear head would be appreciated..

You're current train of thought would work. Like you said, a couple inches or more, will provide room, the more the better.

I did the same to a friend's Toyota 4WD p/up. I didn't want to remove trans with tranfer case, so Ai was able to slide it back in the frame to provide room the r&r the clutch. A real labor saver.