Oil Pan Troubles

I have a 2000 4cyl 4wd tacoma. I went to change the oil one day, but my drainage plug's threads are stripped, so it just spins in place without coming out. I plan on keeping my truck until the heat death of the universe, so I went with the best solution in the long term and decided to replace the whole oil pan instead of drilling out and re-tapping the drainage plug.

I took off the skid plates and looking at the set up from the bottom, it looks like the only way to get the oil pan off is to either completely remove the front axle, or lift out the whole engine from the top and work on it from there. I don't have the tools or know how for that level of work, am I missing another way to get the pan off?

 

Not sure about the 2.7 but on the 3.4 with 4x4, the front diff assembly has to be drop in order for the oil pan to come out

 

You have to drop the diff, I just finished this task about a month ago.