Yes you might need a very slightly bigger hole so you can pull the threaded middle through. The plate on the inside bites into the plastic fairly well so you don't need to hold it.
I lowered the back plate down inside the tank on a piece of wire, used two big allen keys as hooks through the center and screwed the other part to it. Wheñ it's good and tight you let go, walk off and fetch your element, feed it through and tighten it up.