tight gaiters

I bought some gaiters 06-5743, Andover Norton made, and the bottom part is quite a tight fit to go over the bottom part of the fork (techinically the older style seal holder extension screwed into the slider). Is this normal? It almost seems like they would rip if I try to stretch them, and definitely seems like some softening heat will be needed.
Brendan

There me a small bead at the botton to hold that end in place, Warm the gaiter in hot water to soften it up first. This will make it easier to stretch over the stanchion. Before mounting, stretch the entire length of the gaiter as long as you can or the top end will slip down over time. I used a zip tie at the top to hold it there.

Thanks, worked fine and looks right, just a lot tighter going on than I'd experienced with other makes. I also found this to be another application where P80 Assembly lube was helpful.

I didn't think of assembly lube. I think I used saliva, which works well with lubing rubber parts like fuel hose. When dry, probably acts as an adhesive.