Suppose we have a (commutative, unital) ring $R$ and a (commutative, unital) $R$-algebra $A$ such that $A$ is projective of constant rank $n$ as an $R$-module. This condition is equivalent to there existing $r_1,\dots, r_k\in R$ that together generate the unit ideal and for which each localization $A_{r_i}$ is isomorphic to $R_{r_i}^{\oplus n}$ as an $R_{r_i}$-module, so in practice if we want to work with such objects, we switch to a localization in which $A$ has an $R$-module basis.
Now suppose we also have an $A$-module $M$ that is projective of constant rank $m$ as an $A$-module, so that we have a "tower" of locally-free modules $M$ over $A$ over $R$. I want to use the localization trick to be able to assume simultaneously that $A$ has an $R$-basis $x_1,\dots, x_n$ and that $M$ has an $A$-basis $y_1,\dots,y_m$, as in this related question. However, I'm suddenly not sure this is possible: it seems to me that by localizing $R$, we can ensure that $A$ is free as an $R$-module, but to ensure that $M$ is free as an $A$-module we need to be able to localize $A$ by elements of $A$ generating the unit ideal, and it's not clear to me how that can be done merely by localizing $R$ by elements generating its unit ideal. So the question is:
If $A$ is an $R$-algebra isomorphic to $R^n$ as $R$-modules, and $M$ is a locally free $A$-module of rank $m$, then do there exist $r_1,\dots, r_k\in R$ generating the unit ideal such that $M_{r_i} \cong A_{r_i}^m$ as $A_{r_i}$-modules?
As an example of the type of situation I'm hoping is the general case, consider $R = \mathbb{Z}$, $A = R[\sqrt{-5}]$, and $M = (3, 1+\sqrt{-5}) \subseteq A$. Then $M$ is a locally free $A$-module of rank $1$, meaning that there exist $a_1,\dots, a_k\in A$ generating the unit ideal such that $M$ becomes principal over each localization. But we can also choose those $a_i$ to belong to $R$: choosing $a_1 = 2$ and $a_2 = 3$ works.
If you're more of an algebraic geometer, consider that we have a finite, flat, finite presentation morphism $\pi: Y\to X$ and a sheaf $\mathcal F$ of $\mathcal O_Y$-modules that is locally isomorphic to $\mathcal O_Y^m$. Then are $\pi_\ast\mathcal F$ and $\pi_\ast \mathcal O_Y^m$ also locally isomorphic as sheaves of $\pi_\ast\mathcal O_Y$-modules? Do we get extra mileage from the fact that $\pi$ is a covering map in the fppf topology?