I've been renting/selling a crankshaft drill and tap tool and a balancer installer to fellow stovebolters for about 10 years or more. It's by far the best way to do it. That being said, a simple hardwood wedge driven between the pressure plate and the back of the bellhousing through the inspection cover opening takes ALL the strain off the thrust bearing. Most people with more than two brains cells to rub together figured that out a long time before I was born.
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!