I agree...and I already snagged an intake of eBay, cleaned and painted for $39. Thought about going up to the pick and pull for one but after time going up there, pulling it, and cleaning it, I'll easily come out ahead with the eBay one.
And the rear main is easy eh? I thought they were a b*tch? I was looking at a truck a while back that the owner confessed to it needing a new rear main and I called a couple places and was told around $800 to do it.
Yea, screw that. Grab a buddy and do it yourself. The seal is a few dollars, and at most you'll need to borrow a pneumatic impact driver to loosen the flexplate bolts. It's basically idiot proof. Put the truck on jackstands, pull the driveshaft(s), disconnect shift linkage, throttle valve cable and wiring harness, pull the inspection cover and take out the 3 converter bolts, support the transmission with a jack and unbolt the bellhousing from the block and slide the transmission back and down out of the way. After the flexplate is unbolted the seal comes out easily. Reverse to put everything back together.