I'll second the use of the bench vise for holding the ejector rod to loosen or tighten. Wooden vise jaws hold it securely w/o marring it.
I sure wouldn't have minded haveing the small tool now sold for that purpose in a field kit a couple of times when the older right hand threaded e/rods backed out!
I've always use a small phillips screw driver to pull and insert the rebound spring. On installation, the tip is alligned so one of the 4 slots in the tip is over the pin and when the spring is inserted, it can be layed down over the pin. Then pushed down the rest of the way.
All the special tools available now are really great and if I was starting out now I would no doubt take advantage of all that I could.
There were almost no small specialty tools when I started and you made what you needed.
Even those that were available were generally out of my price range.
There's alot of nice, affordable tools around now.