I'm no expert, but with the sun moving into winter mode, and the maple about to lose its leaves in the next month or so anyway, I would think that either putting some sort of guard over the trunk for the first 6 months or so, or else painting the trunk with a cheap white paint, to protect it from the sun for the first little while should do the job. I am assuming, actually, that you will wait to move the tree until it has gone dormant? With copious watering and mulching, I would think that it should be fine.

My brother had a rather large maple moved when he added on to his house - it was at least 10 years old, 15-20' tall and about 6-8 in. in diameter. He had a tree company move it, with a proper 90" digger, but this was in early summer, when the tree had leafed out, and during the height of the drought. It had been in part shade, and went to full sun. With copious watering, and mulching, it is now, 4 years later, about double in size. I think the cost then was $300, against a replacement cost of $1,500 for a comparable sized tree, new.

Just be sure you get a big root ball, water it well both before and after you dig, (as if you didn't already know these things) and you should be fine. Oh yeah, help in moving it will save your back - the root ball has always been bigger than I thought it would be when I have moved trees or large shrubs. Having a tarp handy to slide it along the ground with, if you can slide it to its new site, also will save on backs all 'round. A piece of plywood, with rope from holes on one side, makes a good slide as well, and would save the root ball from some of the jarring, which might break it up.

Great advice,dibbit. I still feel concerned that going from hard shade to full sun, even in winter, might damage all the tissues and developing buds.

Well, you could spray the whole tree with either a cheap, thin white paint, which should wear off over the next few months, or spray the whole tree with either an anti-dessicant or with Surround, a clay product meant to protect fruit trees from bugs, etc.. Either way, clay or paint, it would be a white tree for a number of months. Trees survive the sudden increase of suns all the time when a tree in the woods falls and creates an opening, so I would think your tree, with ample water, and the lower winter sun, would survive. Someone else might have different advice.

Dottie, just wrap the trunck with tree wrap for the first year. It would be helpful if you kept it oriented in the same manner it is now, keep the north side of the plant towards the north. By the way, I am curious as to the outcome of your well digging. I was told that I would have to have a storage tank attached to the well because the well itself would not produce enough water per minute to fully pressurize the irrigation system. I am still considering digging a well and installing a drip system.

Dieter, great advice re: orienting the tree.
As for the well, it hasn't been dug yet. The back yard is still too damp. Thankfully it gives me longer to consider just how to protect my driveway and pavers from the weight of the drilling truck. Wish I knew a source for those steel plates they use over street repairs.
As for pressure, there's just no way of knowing what the pressure will be until the well is dug. The company did the wells for the golf course ponds so they know there's good water in the area. We're not having a tank.
Have you moved to your new home? Wow, coming from the showpiece yard you had on to a brand new start you have to have a lot of energy.
But, back to the tree issue. Just digging it away from the house foundation is quite a project. Three feet away is a 1' tall 'baby' swamp maple. I'm tempted to just move the baby and sacrifice the big brother maple.

Moving the 'baby' might be your best bet. It's astonishing how much roots a not-so-big tree can grow, and getting as much root as possible would contribute to the success of the move. I don't remember if swamp maples have tap roots or not. If not, then your plan of having it in a pot for the winter might give the baby a better chance in life, come next year. If they do, then moving the bigger one becomes that much harder, and the hole you will have to dig for it becomes that much bigger! And the pot for the baby gets that much deeper!

Re. the steel slabs, most of the paving in this area is done by contractors, although some is SC DOT. If you call up a contractor, they would probably rent you a couple of the slabs, and probably move them for you. It would cost, but probably not as much as repairing your drive. If they won't rent any, they still might have a few suggestions.

I had a thought, that might help; putting a thick layer of sand over things. It wouldn't distribute the weight as well as a slab, but it would protect against 'shearing' forces, as the truck's large, heavy wheels rolled over things. You would have to move it again by hand, probably, when things were done, but a couple loads of sand can usually be used somewhere in a garden. Unless, of course, you are already on sand, and then it might not work at all. But your saying your back yard was still too wet leads me to believe you have clay soil, so....

I thought I'd use 3/4" plywood over the concrete joints and along the edges of the drive where the truck will drive off onto the grass.
The steel would be needed to protect the 8' square inset of cobblestones that the truck would ,without the steel, crush. Thanks for the advice!