I am using vice grips locked on the pin...then i was holding the handles of the vice grips with the channel locks to give me something to bang on to pull pin towards me.

I was going to do the bypass, but I jumped the starter (got it running) and the shifting from the shifter was extremely hard (banging) going into gears. had it towed to the mechanic who said the range sensor was bad for sure, but didn't want to touch the job. Said he wouldn't mind swapping the transmission, and that was his recommendation.

Also no worries on the help. I have a proper guide, but it doesn't give me any ideas on how to pull the pin...UIt just says use locking plyers and pull the pin out.

 

I asked you to remove the relay for testing is to test if you get 12v on terminal 86 or 85 (if 85 has continuity to chassis ground, then use 86 as the positive trigger) of the relay while cranking, just to confirm the 12v signal only, no bypassing the TRS to start. On fender mounted type of relay, the small terminal labeled S is the positive trigger wire, the mounting base is attached to the chassis ground, but when it's at rest, the S terminal also has continuity to the mounting base, so you get continuity when you just try to check the continuity on S terminal to ground your DMM will beep as well. So on the fuse box type there are more test to be done to confirm if ford uses terminal 86.

You actually can jump terminal 86 or 85 at the relay by feeding 12v to start instead of jumping the S terminal or dangerously connect the B and M together on the starter solenoid.
You probably don't need to swap the transmission, just the TRS should do it. If he told you to swap the transmission he probably is trying to make more money from you, and at this point he can't even confirm your transmission is bad, why change it, since just the TRS shouldn't cost more than $200. Ask him how much time it takes to swap the TRS, you might want to wait at the shop while he's swaping the TRS so he doesn't do any damage to charge you more on replacing the tranny.