TIME SENSITIVE- Game pass: claim by 1/31 vs redeem by 3/2

I just got a 2 year subscription of Xbox live Gold for Christmas because my subscription ends next month. I just realized that previously I bought 2 years last time which means I have 13 months of gold left not 1 like I thought. I'm trying to do the Gamepass
ultimate deal and transfer my 36 months of gold into 36 months of gamepass. I just tried to activate my new 2 years of gold but it won't let me- I can apparently only hold 36 months of gold at once but if I activate it I would have 37 months.

MY QUESTION IS: Can I 'claim' the gamepass deal before 1/31, activate my 2 years of gold at the end of February, then 'redeem' the gamepass deal by 3/2 and still get 36 months of gold transferred to 36 months of gamepass ultimate? Or would claiming the deal
before I activate my 2 years of gold only leave me with 1 year of gamepass?

On that note, how would I claim it without redeeming it at the same time? It's probably self explanatory when I go through with it but I don't want to mess up and lose 2 years by doing it wrong.

:)