The cooking thing just makes it worse.
It could be motor mounts making it chatter, or it could just be a glazed disc. The last clutch job I did on another car had a chattering problem too, but it went away when I had the flywheel resurfaced and replaced the clutch.
I feel for you on the transmission pulling. I'm a big guy and I don't like to do it either. I found that the easiest way to do it is to pull the floor hatch on the cab and support the transmission with an engine hoist through the door of the cab while you are trying to move it.
It also helps to make some guide pins. I just use and old set of 235 head bolts, since they are the same thread, but you could use studs instead.
