Did that twice, and then gravity bled. Once installed new slave, pushed clutch pedal and the seal popped on it due to the cylinder being all the way out to the metal push arm of clutch.
If you said like I read, you removed the slave from the tranny housing and manually pushed the lever back and forth correct? If you did and it's sticking, then yes you will need to open the tranny housing. Not an hard job with a lift, just takes awhile. You will need to drop the complete subframe. While your there you should consider changing all your bushings.
