Crankcase Breathers

Does anybody know how to open the plastic breathers in the rocker box? I've got a 2002 twin cam "B" motor and I bought the little round filters that go under that breather assembly. They came with a couple gaskets and new umbrella valves. I wanted to put the new umbrella valves in but the breather isn't just opening up and I don't want to break it trying too hard to pry it open.
The service manual doesn't say but, it does have an illustration of the opened breather.

There were a few problems with the plastic breather housings, warping and as your experiencing, hard to get apart. HD upgraded these in 03', the new style housings are made of aluminum. I replaced mine in my 02' Heritage. While you have it open, I would replace the plastic housings with the upgraded aluminum ones.

What you want to do is take the 2 screws out lift the plastic breather assembly and put it in the nearest garbage can Then install the new stamped steel breather assembly part number 17025-03A(about $13.00 each at the dealer)...You may also want to enlarge the drain back holes to 1/8"...the new breather assembly has a more dense sponge element and it has an air gap between the sponge and rocker support plate

Well, I put it together before reading about the metal breather upgrade. I just put in the new filters without the replacing the umbrella valves. This all started with a broken oil pump and stuck pressure relief valve. Fueling oil pump and cam plate... all back together, Fired 'er up and now I get a hellasious noise from the rear Jug.

HRK, I put the push rods in with the piston at TDC so the cam would be at it's lowest point. After torquing the rear rockers I waited til I could turn the push rods by hand before moving on to the front cyl. When I probe with a stethoscope I hear the noise loudest right on the rear jug.

Run it half way down the block and back today. It don't sound like it's a lifter noise. Sounds more like piston\cylinder noise when I put the stethoscope on it. Stock push rods. Bled down between cylinders until I could turn the rods by hand. Started up for just a minute. The bike sat a couple months between the time the oil pump broke and when I put it back together. I put the push rods in with the piston at TDC so the cam would be at it's lowest point. After torquing the rear rockers I waited til I could turn the push rods by hand before moving on to the front cyl. When I probe with a stethoscope I hear the noise loudest right on center of the rear jug. I'm thinkin' while the top was starving for oil tat maybe a rocker took some damage. Anyway I figure I'm not gonna find the cause if the noise until I start takin' stuff back apart.