Got the replacement triple tree lower yesterday, although the bearing puller tool hasn't arrived yet.
Couldn't stand to just sit there and stare at parts and wait for the mail truck. So after having screwed up on the previous bearing removal, I learned enough to do a better job this time. So with no bearing puller anyway, I decided to give it another shot.
This time, I cut off the roller bearing cage with cutting pliers. I also removed the rubber and soft metal wrapper around the base of the bearing race. After using a punch tool on the narrow bearing race lip and seeing the lip fracture (yes, wear safety glasses!) and zing away, I realized I'd have to apply force to another area of the bearing or wait for the puller tool.
After positioning the assembly across some wood blocks, I chose to do some very careful grinding this time to heat up the bearing race and also to weaken the bearing and provide some notches which I could use with a punch tool. Then I moved on to the punch tool. I was eventually successful seeing the bearing move when using a punch positioned at the base of the bearing at it's strongest point and tapping with a hammer. Taking care to tap as evenly as possible around the base, the bearing came off pretty uneventfully.
The old bearing and more careful work with a punch and hammer worked perfectly as a driver to drive the new one back onto the shaft. A driver is necessary to avoid damaging the new bearing roller cage.
After application of good, high quality grease, everything went back together. The front end movement is definitely and obviously waaaaaay smoother now. I'm at the point now where I am torquing, rotating, loosening, torquing, testing, etc. Forks and wheel, bars, headlight, and other front end parts are back together. Now I need to figure out an affordable brake line replacement while I refill and work on front forks.