Oil pan gasket replacement

I'm pretty sure my oil pan gasket just started leaking. Wanting to replace it so I took a gander at my options. Mechanics are saying around 4 hours and $400-$500 (the gasket itself is about $20). The manual is listing off about a bajillion things I have to remove to get to the oil pan.
Remove;

1. stabalizer bar
2. exhaust system
3. front crossmember
4. A/C compressor
5. alternator
6. crankshaft position sensor
7. stiffener plates
8. transmission brace

Makes sense for the 4 hours after looking at that, for sure. But I'm fairly competent with the basics plus some. However, the exhaust system and the A/C compressor worry me. The book says to have a qualified mechanic drain the refigerant. I've never done anything with A/Cs before. Do I have to first take it in for this?

Also, the exhaust system removal? It's an exhaust. It's massively rusted. Can I do this with normal tools?

What are your experiences? Oil pan seems like it should be easy. This will probably be the most labor intensive thing I'll have done. Advice?

(95 Tacoma 4 cyl 2.4L)

 

Only thing I can speak to is removal of a rusted exhaust. If you have to do any cutting/sawing/grinding, I would recommend removing everything behind the down pipe...as in, don't remove the manifold, but take off everything else if you cant unbolt your. Reason is you don't want to reef on your oxygen sensors. If those studs are rusted, be careful getting the sensors off. I did mine to replace a muffler. Used a thin grinder to cut the catalytic out, and combo of grinder and drill to resurface the bolt holes on either side. Massive PITA. Make sure you get new gaskets for whatever joint you separate.