Pulling a transmission in a van is cake, a truck is much harder. All the mid and upper bellhousing bolts are VERY easy to get to from inside the van with the doghouse off. The only difficulties are the mentioned lifting height of the jack versus the ground to frame clearance to get it out. I have an old mechanical transmission jack (lifts and tilts with screws, not hydraulics) and pulled the E4OD of my 95 F150 351w by myself on my flat driveway in about 2.5 to 3 hours. That is pull it in the driveway to the trans out. A van should take less time because of the easier access to the bellhousing bolts.
I had the one in my above mentioned F150 351w rebuilt last year and let the shop R&R it for me. I was there and helped get it put in and back out and in again when we heard but had not seen a crack in my flexplate. On a lift, it came out - replaced the flexplate - and back in in less than 2 hours.
