Okay, I decided to try the warm balancer method last night and here is the result:

First I cleaned the inner surface of the balancer and the exposed portion of the crank snout thoroughly and polished them a little bit with some #0000 steel wool.

I measured the diameter of the balancer hole with a digital inside caliper at 1.236" @ room temperature (about 70 degrees). Instead of using boiling water, I heated the balancer in my powder coating oven @ 250 degrees for 15 minutes.

Immediately upon removing the heated balancer from the oven, I rechecked the hole diameter. The hole now measured 1.243", so the diameter had expanded by .007". Not a lot but maybe enough to make a difference.

As soon as I had measured the hole (less than a minute after removing it from the oven), I placed in on the crank snout, held a block of wood against it, and whacked it firmly about 4 or 5 times with a 3-pound hammer. It went on very easily.

In retrospect, I guess I could have tried installing it cold, then removed it and tried it hot to see if it made a difference, but I didn't. I think maybe the .007" increase in diameter made a difference though -- I used no lubricant except for a little bit of oil on the seal and yet the balancer installed without undue effort.

Thanks again to all who offered advice -- it was a learning experience for me plus the flame war was entertaining as hell!