I have a 5spd 93 pickup v6. I've changed the tranny fluid before and it was really annoying. What do you guys think of just filling the tranny from the top by means of removing the shifter?

 

That's how I always do it. Just fill it until it starts to drip out of the check/fill hole. Then you can either wait until it stops dripping from the hole to replace the plug or just do it right away (like I do). The amount of excess fluid in the tranny by plugging the hole right away is negligible.