Replacing the toilet seal

As many have experienced, or rather smelled, the toilet seal on the Thetford toilet can sometimes not work as well as it should, and leak fluids and noxious gases in either direction, which is a very undesirable condition.

I was able to identify the toilet that we have as the Thetford Aqau-Magic Style II, albeit mostly by matching up pictures on the Thetford website.  Switching to Amazon, I found a replacement ball and seal kit that I could get next day on Prime (first time I've been able to use the new free next day shipping service).

Thetford 34117  Waste Ball Kit for Style II / Style Lite / Style Plus

Unfortunately, after receiving the kit, which Amazon was kind enough to drop on my front porch, I found that the instructions only cover the Lite and Plus models, not the II.

Fortunately, the lack of instructions is not usually a deterrent for me, so I proceeded with an ultimately successful installation attempt, which I conveniently captured most of on camera.