Getting the transmission installed is hard. Axle seals are not

Last night, I went ahead and get started with the biggest part of re-assembly:  Putting the  transmission in.  The first step was to get the new axle seals installed.  The document that I found on the web took great pains to mention how hard it was to pry out the axle seals.  They lied.  I used a 24″ tire iron and easily removed both seals without the prybar touching the case of the transmission.  Putting the new seals in was easy — I used the iron pipe-based Honda Odyssey crank-holding tool that I built as a seal driver.  Come to think of it, though, I thought I bought a seal driver set at one point, hmm.  Anyway, the hard part was getting the transmission in.  I tried a couple times and then decided to go to bed.  I’m thinking that I might build a wooden cradle to sit on top of the tranny jack to hold the transmission at the right angle, because the jack I have is designed for longitudinal-mounted transmissions, not transverse transaxles.