Decided to repack my muffler. The Bristol core that was in there was still good after 6,000 miles, so the repack was actually not necessary. My next repack will probably be in 15k+.
Nm, I just used a small carabiner hooked to loops in the cap that goes into header and a tie down strap wrapped around the tree out front of my house to tug the cap off. Worked like a charm!