Both tkmedit and tksurfer have tool windows which jump to a location below their respective main image windows whenever the image windows are moved or adjusted.

This prevents the image windows from being enlarged to full screen height, because the tool windows then jump to bottom of screen, and behind the main window.

Is there some way to signal these two apps not to move the tool windows?

Sorry, no, that's a feature. :)

If you're only doing volume viewing and don't need surface viewing or some of the other esoteric tkmedit tools, you may want to try scuba, which works much better when enlarged to full-screen size.