Jay, my memory of exactly how I did it are iffy. I looked at the fsm at front suspension, pages 51 and 53. On page 51, I think I removed nuts 6 and 10, and the associated bolts/spacers/washers/rubber cushions. You already have the front crossmember and diff mount out, right? I'd support the diff with a jack. It should pivot on the mounts for the bolts/nuts above, down and forward. The axles and dshaft stay attached.

I don't remember on the v6, but the i4 diff is very close to the pan, and there's no way to pull the pan with it there. In fact, on the 2.6, the pan has a dent in it to clear the diff. When doing my 2.6t conversion, I had to hammer adjust a new dent into the starquest pan.

WWFF and I pulled his v6 pan using this method. It's still tight, but can be done, even with the pan dosed with gasket maker. We did not remove the pickup tube on the oil pump, which may explain some of our tightness...