I was looking through the Hayes Manuel when I read that the a/c had to evacuated in order to remove the radiator. Is this the only way or is Hayes just being difficult?

 

Haynes adds unnecessary steps to everything. I'm sure there's another way. PM RumbleZ. He'll know the answer for you. He's torn these things apart from top to bottom.

 

the ac condenser is clipped to the front of the radiator if you lift the condenser off the radiator you can pull the radiator only (this is kind of hard to explain take a look at how the fans are connected to the radiator its the same for the condenser)