Trying To EVICT Upper Main Rope Seal ?

[NO1B4ME]

I have a new crate 109 shortblock (0) miles on it..... I am currently replacing the rope rear main seal with the updated neoprene seal, the upper rope seal just doesn't want to come out ,I have worked both ends and removed about a half of an inch of the seal using various methods ....needle nose,punch,corkscrew seal remover and none of these worked. So what are some recommendations to evict this nuisance upper seal ?
If I did drop the crank,would I have to index the thrust bearing again with the connecting rods in position ?

 

[bison]

I did one last week and i couldnt find my cork screw seal puller. So i just loosened all the main caps and pulled up on the back of the crank and pushed it out with a thin screwdriver. Then i reset the main thrust and torqued the mains back down (100 ft lbs.). Took all of ten minutes.

 

[TURBOTWIN2]

"Sneaky Pete", it's an old school corkscrew type tool, made specifically for that job. Don't know what happened to mine. HTH.