My next idea is to get that chrome cover off and try to pop the seal out and up the top of the tube without taking the fork apart. Then slide the new seal all the way down from the top.
I know it's frustrating when you feel like it'll never work, like it's consciously resisting you and you're about to be beaten in a battle of wits with an inanimate object. Some of us do crap like that for a living.
I think you can get the seal out from the top without disassembling the fork if you decide to go that route.
The first time I replaced fork seals I drilled through the metal part of the seal and threaded in a drywall screw, I did this in 3 locations around the seal and forced the seal up and out that way, but those tubes were trash anyway and I didn't care about scratching them more.
You could probably thread in 3 screws and protect the fork tube with some PVC pipe while using a slide hammer to pull the seal out, worst case you'd have to thread in a larger screw if it pulled through.
Food for thought, there's always another way. You can do it!
-Alan
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