ok, now im getting far, my question is, after ive undone all the tranny mounts and engine to transmission bolts, can the mainshaft support the entire transmission by itself or do i need to support the tranny while removing that stuff

 

Support it with a jackstand or something similar.

 

I always let it hange until I pull it off. I've never broken anything. I have been working on cars for a good three years and have lost count of tranny and engine swaps I've done.