2004 Dodge Durango 5.7l Hemi Limited AWD

So my Durango started displaying the Serv 4wd light on the dash and noticed it was locked in 4wd, I suspect the Tcase Shift Motor is the culprit. I jacked it up thinking how hard could this be, drop the front drive line, disconnect the shift motor wire, unbolt and replace… Haha, righttttttt I cannot get the front drive line off, I looked up the manuel instructions says to pull skid plates, drop the exaushst crossover, unbolt and should be able to slide out. But I cant get it slid forward enough to get it off the splines to drop it! All the vehicles I have done in the past were a piece of cake… all you had to do was unbolt from front Dif and let to drop below cross member and slide it out. However this beast has a large welded cross member right below where it bolts so you cant drop it… HELP! haha.

You’ve removed the exhaust crossover bolts from EM and lower crossover, and
removed the boot clamp from the CV joint, and removed the pinion flange bolts, right?