This weekend I decided to finally do my first-ever service of fork lowers. The guinea pig for this first attempt was my wife's bike, which just so happens to be my old bike. The Pike fork that's on the bike was installed in November 2017 and has had not a single cleaning or service since then. As you can see from the attached picture of the old foam rings and seals this service was way overdue. The oil that came out was completely dirty with obvious particles of dirt.
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Overall the service was pretty easy to do: release pressure, unscrew lower bolts, smash bolts with hammer, pull lowers off, clean, replace foam rings/seals, put lowers back on, add oil, replace crush washers, tighten bolts, beer.
I only had two issues. The first one was getting off the old seals which I was told could be done with a tire lever but which really didn't work for me. I found that a crescent wrench did the trick, provided you used a wrapped up towel to protect the fork.
The second, and much more difficult issue, was getting the lowers back onto the stanchions without folding one or both seals under. This would be made much easier if they could make one of the stanchions about 1/4" longer than the other, but instead they are the same length which means you have to try to align both legs up simultaneously. I think it took me about ten tries to do this right. If any of you more proficient mechanics out there have any tips on making this part easier, I'd appreciate the tips.
Up next is to think about doing the same on my Fox 36 fork, which sadly seems to require completely different oil for some silly reason.