I agree with waldo53. That seal is hard enough to install under good conditions. I have done it, and have seen it done by others, without removing the transmission, but after all the struggle, I don't think anyone saved any time- and you end up scuffing the seal quite a bit in the process. I haven't read the tech tip you refered to, but I assume you are talking about loosening the remaining three main caps quite a bit, then using the woven-wire "finger puller" type of installer and turning the crankshaft while you remove the old seal and install the new one. Loosening all the main caps lets the crankshaft come down quite a bit, even with the transmission still attached, but I never measured the amount of movement you can get that way.
If you take the transmission out, I don't know if you can lower the crankshaft enough to disengage the timing gears on the front. The front cover seal may keep the crankshaft from moving enough to disengage the timimg gears, but that is a test you don't want to fail. If you disengage the timing gears and turn the crankshaft, not realizing what happened, you will cause yourself a great deal of unexpected grief when you next start the engine- or try to start it. To avoid the timing gear issue, I would leave the front main cap in place, with the bolts loosened a couple of turns so the front of the shaft won't move vertically very far. I personally haven't experienced this misfortune, but if it can happen, it surely will happen (Murphey's laws- but I don't remember which one).
Harvester
