Welcome to AngryOlaf's Homemade Fork Tools Post!
(or... how to have just enough knowledge and imagination to be dangerous in the garage)

I just hacked together a few homemade tools for my fork rebuild this week and I thought I would share.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional and in no way guarantee the results or appropriateness of the tools and methods I describe below. They worked for me, but that may have been dumb luck! Suspension work is complicated and has a major impact on the safety of your bike, and it should not be entered into lightly. If in doubt, you should probably find someone experienced and qualified to do the work.

Angry Olaf's "Random Stuff Around the House" Fork Oil Height Tool:

Requires:
1 - long thin metal tube (I used an extension tip from a $3 compressor air gun attachment from Harbor Freight. Any long thin rigid metal tube should do.)
1 - Large binder clip (standard office supply)
1 - piece of flexible tube (mine was extra from a brake bleeder)
1 - Poultry injector (from kitchen - came with a rotisserie. basically a large syringe)
1 - Roll electrical tape (may or may not be necessary depending on your exact parts
1 - Ruler with mm markings for setting oil height on the tool.

Optional: A vacuum brake bleeder in place of the poultry syringe and flexible tube. (This was my backup plan!)

Drill a hole slightly larger than your metal tube through the center of your binder clip. Press the clip open and slide the tube through. (This is your height adjuster!)

Attach flexible tube to your metal tube. In my case I needed to wrap the flexible tube in electrical tape until it was thick enough to fit snug inside the air gun fitting on the metal tube. (Note: If you go with a brake bleeder, the bleeder tube should be connected directly to the metal tube at this step and you should be done! )

Next, attach the flexible tube to the syringe. I pulled the injector needle off mine and the tube pressed on snugly.

Now just use your ruler to set how far the edge of the binder clip is from the open end of the metal tube. The binder clip will sit on the top edge of the fork tube while you draw out the extra fork oil with the syringe.



Angry Olaf's "Home Improvement Store" Fork Seal Installation Tool:

Requires:
1 - 1 1/4" Straight PVC Coupling
1 - 1 1/2" x 12" Galvanized Pipe Section (pre-cut and threaded in my case, but just a cut section of pipe should be fine.)

Using a drill with a honing attachment (small wheel wrapped in sandpaper, remove as much of the lip inside the center of the PVC coupling as possible (The coupling will not slide down over the fork tube unless most of the lip is removed. Once it fits, slide this coupling down over the fork so that it rests on top of the seal. My coupling had one smooth edge and one stamped with info, so the smooth edge went against the seal.

Now verify that the inside of your galvanized pipe is smooth and free of burrs. Clean it up if necessary... this will be your hammer and you dont want it scratching up your forks! Now slide this pipe down above the PVC coupling and basically use it as a hammer to drive the seal in.