I've been following along with my '01 about a week behind. I'm glad that you at least found the easily identifiable problem. +1 on the LN spin-on adapter. It prevents oil from bypassing the filter.
A few suggestions to add for earlier in the thread:
I picked up a good wrench/bit for the transmission bolt at Lowes. It worked easily with a 8mm wrench and bar:
Also whenever I unbolt a transmission, I like to keep track of what goes where by sticking them in a piece of cardboard:
Also I had one
driveshaft bolt that would not come out. Eventually it became stripped enough that the wrench was useless. The easy solution was to turn the shaft so that bolt was on the bottom, then grind off the head. With just a little prying the shaft came off over it. The rest of the bolt was easy to remove after starting it with pliers.
Thanks again for the thread and keep the updates coming.