You're still going to have to drop the skid. We have 4 drive on ramps. We pull it up on those before we do trans swaps or t-case pulls. Lets you lower the back of the drivetrain down so you can turn the top two nuts on the studs. Put a jack stand under the trans right in front of the skid plate so you can lower down some. Be careful of the fan shroud, go down too far and you'll break it. The nuts are 9/16". If you don't have a ratchet wrench in that size, get one. If you have the normal length, you may have to put another box end on the end of the ratchet wrench to break them loose.
That and I'll be amazed if the back half is sound enough to use, hopeful, but amazed.