How to Remove and Replace a Chair Cylinder with a hammer or pipe wrench.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 พ.ค. 2020
- In this video I provide detailed instructions on how to remove and replace a chair cylinder. Is your chair slowly sinking or not holding the height you set it at. It might be time to replace that old chair cylinder.
I show you two very easy methods to remove a chair cylinder with a hammer or pipe wrench. I have swapped hundreds of cylinders in my career and these are the only tools I use for removal of a cylinder. Plus some helpful tips to keep your new cylinder functioning properly for years.
If your business needs help with office furniture please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
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There seems to be a lot of these chair cylinder videos. This one seems well done. However, as a caution I will share my experience here as I have with some of the other videos:
I just did my older high quality desk chair. It took 2 days. The bottom wheel carriage came off easily enough I guess, but then......
I soaked the part that goes to seat portion in Wd and PB Blaster, No Joy, and I have a large 18" pipe wrench. Tried it again after soaking overnight. No joy. I was putting so much force on it I was afraid I'd break the rest of the chair. I then removed the seat adjustment mechanism from the seat and put it in a large heavy vice so I could hold it in place better. No joy. Then I clamped the cylinder in the vice and tried a HF hydraulic spreader to try and pop it off while wailing on it first with a dead blow, then with a 4lb sledge, but no joy. I went back to the internet thinking maybe mine was bolted or welded on, but no. Finally, I took some of the more fragile parts off of the mechanism took it out side, placed a board on the ground and placed it on the board and then used the front end loader on my tractor to hold it down. I then put a 4' cheater pipe on the pipe wrench handle and gave it everything I had. Joy!!! My chair is now fixed and works great again. All you need is a tractor with a front end loader and a few thousand pounds of weight and 4' pipe wrench and 220lbs of fat man and it comes right off as easy as pie.
I see your last option was "Act of God" :) I hope we helped a little.
I’m coming over to use your tractor because mine isn’t coming off either! Lol
The same problem I am having, unfortunately no tractor.
Yup.... this is where I am at but no tractor. The damn thing won't budge. Just took off the seat bracket and have it soaking in wd40. I have a feeling I'm gonna have to anglegrind this thing out. NOT nearly as easy as the prestaged video.
did you happen to record it? would be funny as hell. LOL. Glad you finally got it off (staged videos should be removed)
Dude. I've been fighting with my chair for an hour and was about ready to just wait until my hubby got home. This got the thing off right off the bat. I'm going to tell myself that I'd loosened it up. LOL
Glad I could help.
Amazing. A few well-placed hammer taps is all it ended up taking. Wish I had watched this video before trying to hammer it into oblivion (per other online advice). Thanks so much for posting!!!
Glad we could help.
BRO, this is such an underrated video. The trick where you hit the mechanism as close as possible to the lift is just genius. I've been hitting mine for 2 days straight and this worked instantly after just 2 more hits. AMAZING!!!
Great to hear. Thank you so much for the feedback. Glad everything worked out for you and we could help.
I concur! I was out in my garage with a pipewrench nearly giving myself an aneurism straining until finding this video. Seriously, three taps on the mechanism and it popped right out!! I am ready to install the new cylinder! TH-cam video of the Year nomination!!
I've watched a bunch of these videos. This is the one I tried. 3 whacks with a standard hammer to get rid of the chair base. 4 whacks to get the cylinder off of the chair proper. EXCELLENT METHOD. I bet I could have done it with less swings if I were practiced with a hammer.
Glad we could help.
Thanks mate. Random but I bought 2 $500 valued cobra eblue gaming chairs for $280! The lift didn’t work. A few videos later I disassembled the chair only to find the red safety cap still on the cylinders. Used your hammer technique to pop out both and snagged the caps & put them back together.
Nice work. Glad we could help.
Thank you so much! I was minutes away from tossing my chair in the garage because I didn’t think I’d ever get off the old hydraulic.
Glad we could help.
This video was a God send. I was seconds away from buying a rubber mallet thinking I had no other choice! Thank you so much
Glad we were able to help.
my rubber mallet was no good for this
Got a warranty replacement cylinder for my chair. Had no idea how to replace it. Found the original assembly instructions online. They were of no help. Fortunately, I came across the link for this video. Saved me! By the way, folks, most office chairs have a long warranty. Mine was from Staples, and it has an 11-year warranty on the cylinder.
Glad we could help.
Hitting the mechanism near the cylinder on the chair did the trick.
After a dozen or so tries, the cyclinder came off.
I was trying with a larger wrench but not a pipe wrench.
Thank you for the trick!
Glad we could help.
A very good video. Thank you for posting. I just did mine & the bottom part, (the wheels) came off easy. The top part was more difficult & I was thinking "Maybe mine has a nut on the top", but I persevered & off it finally came.
I then rubbed around both holes with 240 grit sandpaper for about 30 seconds, then a clean cloth to remove any grit or dust.. Next, I wiped a very thin coat of copper grease in the recess' before putting the new ram in.
It shouldn't be too difficult to remove next time. 😉
Dude! Thank you so much! Watched another video before yours (it was higher rated) but it did not go over the hammer stuff or the lubricant / WD-40 stuff. I applied WD, tried the plumber wrench, no dice. Then saw how someone else waited 15 mins or so after using WD-40. I did this, and bam, wrench got it! Life saver!!!
Glad we could help.
LOL came here to see what I was getting into and ended up finding my old boss from 20 years ago. Hi Steven it's Jason from BBY
HAHA this is awesome. Super small world. Your outdoor channel is great by the way.
Thanks for posting, excellent video! Based on the chair back style, I have a similar model chair to this one (though that doesn't matter). The lower assembly came off the chair just fine, it's the bottom, where the legs and piston meet that was a bear for me. Other videos talk about using a wrench to pull the piston/cylinder out, however this video talks about whacking the piston from the bottom to finally get it out. That did the trick. I should also mention, I did this in my garage. Took a lot of whacks with a heavy woodcutting axe with a sledgehammer head. I kept marking the location where the piston went into the chair mechanism, so I could tell if I was making progress. I was, but got frustrated and stopped. It was a colder day, so say 32F or so. I left it there for about an hour. My wife suggested perhaps it'd contract in that time. I went out, and in two whacks, the piston finally dislodged. We'll never know if it was the cold or it just needed those last few hits to get the piston out. I should mention, the chair got a lot of use (and not by lightweights either) for the last 6 weeks, so it was in there pretty good.
Glad everything worked out.
This was exactly what I needed after trying a bunch of methods on other videos, props
We are the pros. Glad we could help.
Your video here is by far the most concise and gave the clearest instructions (with trades tips) on this task. Thank you so much!
Glad we could help.
NO OTHER VIDEO was as accurate and helpful as this......I had to use every tool you listed to get mine out and ONE ADDITION that NO ONE TALKS about is the HARD PLASTIC COVER...that you have to rip and pop loose then CUT it with heavy CUTTERs.......
Glad we could help.
Thanks for the tips!
I was able to swap it out with a hammer, though it definitely took more than one wack to break the old one free!
Glad this helped and yes the cylinder can be in there quite tight.
Worked like a champ. Two well placed hammer blows as recommended in the video and off came the cylinder. Well done.
Glad we could help.
Thank you, dude. I didn't think anything would work but your technique worked like a charm.
That's great to hear. Glad we could help.
Thank you so much!!! I was looking for a how to on replacing my chair cylinder. Love your videos!
Glad to help
THANK YOU for that hammer trick for the cylinder into the chair - I wanted to swap some parts for a while now but didn't want to use the pipe wrench, and I didn't know that any other solution existed. Thanks again, you saved me a lot of money!
Glad we could help.
Best video ever! I didn't have a pipe wrench, so this hammer method worked great. Thanks for the instructions!
Glad we could help.
I was hitting the wrong place at first and was so afraid that it may cause a lot of damage in my chair. Good thing I found your video, By just using a hammer and simply finding the right place to hit, in just a few seconds the cylinder detached! Wow! so happy! girlPower!
Way to go. Glad we could help.
This actually worked perfectly.
Used a demolition sledgehammer because that was available in my toolkit and came off on the second go.
Hope this video gets a bump up to #1 in recommended
Whatever works. Glad our video helped.
This video gives great advice and it worked perfectly for my chair cylinder change. Many thanks
Glad we could help.
Excellent all the way through! I got my old cylinder off following your instructions, after failing to do so following a number of other TH-cam videos. Thank you so much!
Glad we could help.
was replacing both my cylinder and underseat assembly today, so i only needed the first portion of the video. was having trouble dismounting the cylinder without the leverage of the chair body (which i hadn't considered and was already sitting with the new tilt mechanism attached). watching this made me realize that i had to apply some external pressure, and holding down the old tilt mechanism with my foot did just the trick. thanks for explaining the whys in the video! saved me a good bit of sweat
Glad we could help.
Awesome - was struggling with a noble chair - looked at other videos - this one was spot on!
Glad we could help.
Wonderful, it worked. I was about to send my chair back as they initially put a longer piston and sent the right one afterwards. It gets easy if you know where to hit!
Thanks!
Glad that trick helped. I hope it was a @9to5Seating chair :)
Excellent instructions. Removing the base went as planned. The top proved extremely difficult. The chair has been in service for 24 years. A 24-inch pipe wrench was required. Plus 2 men to stabilize the chair,
WOW! 24 years that's impressive. Surprised you were able to even remove the cylinder. Glad we could help.
Just went through this tonight. First I removed or thought I removed the cylinder from the caster area by removing the clip and sliding the cylinder out. Except not really the shell it slid out of was still there as I learned later. I chewed up the metal on the cylinder quite well with the wrench before it finally popped off of the base when the seal broke. I felt so proud. Was all set to replace it and then I saw the shell part of the cylinder was still in the caster area. Whacked it with the only hammer I had a plastic mallet and it's not coming out. Hoping a rubber mallet or claw hammer does the trick tomorrow.
Try allowing some lubricant to sit on there for a day or two. Reply if needed. Pipe wrench is typically the best option to remove a cylinder.
@@ContractOfficeReps I should use the pipe wrench on the column/ piston housing that's stuck in the wheelbase? Tried a rubber mallet on it for a good 5 minutes and nothing. Same with a drop hammer.
That tap to the base, with the hammer, is an awesome tip. Thanks.
Glad we can help.
DUDE YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER! been at it for like an hour trying to get the cylinder off and then watched your vid, TWO WACKS. THANK YOU SO MUCH MAN!
Glad we can help.
Omg. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. After many other videos ,yours came through how to get that cylinder out. Thanks. I'm subscribing
Glad we could help.
@@ContractOfficeRepswhat can we get to stop it from goin all the way down in the hole
This is a decent DIY video. Using a regular hammer and pipe wrench, I was able to replace my office chair's gas cylinder. However, after replacement, the chair would still not go up and down. Upon inspection, I was able to see that a small spring above the new cylinder that works with the side lever was out of place. Once this spring was placed in the proper position, the chair worked fine.
Your the best!!! And Lauren!!
Thank you Sir, and thank you for your business. Can't wait to see HAG Capisco on the podcast.
Hope the following tip is useful to others:
Long story short, if the pipe wrench is not budging the old gas piston, get a blow dryer or a heat gun (basically the macho tool version of a blow dryer) and point it as the base of the gas piston (i.e. where it enters the seat) for a good 10-20 minutes.
I'm in the middle of doing a gas piston replace on a second chair, and I had hoped it would be easier than the first, but it looks like I'm going to have to pull out the blow dryer again.
As other commenters have said, I tried all the obvious tricks. My pipe wrench actually cut GROOVES in the metal of the old gas piston. The blow dryer worked. I'm still not sure why.
Obviously metal expands when it heats up, maybe some combination of that expansion breaking the seal, or just forcing the hole to widen, or the heat softening the plastic sleeve it slots into.
Any way you slice it, it worked.
Nice work. I have never tried the heat gun method as its not always available when swapping a cylinder. The other day I had to jump on the handle of the pipe wrench to get the cylinder to pop free.
The amount of frustration you just saved me. Thank you!
That's awesome. Glad we could help.
Great video. Worked like a charm for my chair. Thanks!
Glad we could help.
My Ikea Markus drove me nuts for >1h but after this video I prevailed in 2min!!
Nice work! Glad we could help.
It took me a while, but your steps worked just right. Thanks so much for the informative video.
Glad we could help.
The hammer trick helped immensely, thank you for the helpful tips!
literally me and my dad watched this video together to solve my chair problem and BOOOM, just follow ur step carefully only took less than two minutes.. THANK YOU
Glad we could help.
Your tip worked like a charm! One of the caster holes broke in an otherwise good chair. I'm replacing it with a metal base now after trying to glue repair the caster fitting. I couldn't get the gas cylinder out at first.
Subscribed
Glad we could help. If the base broke after changing it was probably already cracked.
This guide was the one to break the older cylinder loose from my chair. Appreciate that you proposed more than one method, as the hammer only method did the trick. Took a few strikes on the mechanism to get the cylinder free.
Glad we could help.
I didn't have a pipe wrench, but I had a large pair of locking pliers. To get sufficient leverage, I used a breaker-bar. And actually... sometimes the outer sleeve of the old gas cylinder can slide over it and work as a "makeshift" one. A little WD-40, 15 mins, a little more WD-40, then did the locking pliers with the breaker-bar. Worked great.
Whatever gets the job done. Glad it worked out. Hope the video was informative.
@@ContractOfficeReps Yes, my chair is even better than before, as I'd gone with a superior pneumatic cylinder providing an extra 1" of height. :-)
This video really helped and made light work of my problem. I was able to add a couple more inches to my new chair with a longer cylinder, perhaps a bit too tall as my desk chair turned into an island level chair!, It works for me at the lowest setting though haha. If it helps and you have a small area around the mechanism, we used a mallet and hit it with a hammer a few times and it didn't damage my chair
Most mechanisms are just metal, but some have a plastic cover which makes that a challenge and pipe wrench is needed.
Thank you for helping me! Couldn't get off the base no matter what I did. I tried Regular hammer and Rubber mallet. Didnt move a inch! Then i tried WD40... didnt work. So i decided to replace the whole Cylinder. I was bamming that base for 3 days for it not to move and inch. So I bought a Pipe wrench and I almost gave up. But your advise about Weight helped. Im 429lb sitting in a 350lb limit chair so it was STUCK STUCK. In the end the Pipe wrench was the best option! And i had to really put my back into it! So thank you for the Tip and video!
Glad we could help.
Good video thanks for taking the time one simple question are most of your standard Staples or Office Depot office chair cylinders install the same way in other words do you have to buy a specific piston for a specific style of office chair. I have what would be considered one of your standard office chairs it goes up down and tilts back and forward
Never mind I am guilty of stopping a video 2 minutes before it's over to ask a question LOL.. I grabbed an office chair next to a dumpster because the arm broke off and I thought I could use the cylinder but I guess I'd better do some digging before I just try to swap them
Thanks for the tip, I also used a bit of double-folded cardboard in between and that works great too. But hitting on the edge is the most important thing
Glad we could help.
Thank you so much! Everyone else insisted a pipe wrench was needed (which I don’t own), and I’ve only had my chair for 6 months. I was literally in tears after working with this stupid thing for hours. I even mostly disassembled the chair.
A few whacks close to the assembly (I had to move it around to find the right place) and it popped right off! No pipe wrench needed.
Glad we could help.
👍 Thanks for posting this. It was most helpful. A combination of a wrench (mole grips), hammer blows, WD40, and a little patience, and the job was done!
Glad we could help.
you are a god send, i spent hours trying to do this and after watching your video i did it so fast, thank you so much!
Glad we could help.
Thank you. You saved me from going out to buy a pipe wrench. The hammer worked perfectly.
Glad I could help.
Yup. The pos old pipe wrench I have had a rusted adjusting nut on it and I couldn't open and close it. The hammer method saved me!
Great stuff, thanks mate, good points to keep the cylinders working longer.
Glad to help
Watched another videos, this one got it done! Hammer only!
Glad we could help.
Thank you!
Your tip about using some additional leverage by holding the legs worked a treat.
Prior to that it there had been a lot of swear words 😂
HAHA yes I have been there and said them all. Glad we could help.
Helped me a lot! The hammer worked.
Great video! I never thought about using the hammer technique, I couldn't get anything to move with a pipe wrench, and I'm a big guy. The hammer knocked it right out of both ends!
Nice work. Glad we could help.
I used the hammer method to remove both bottom and top sections. Thanks for the useful demo.
Glad we could help.
THANKS SO MUCH! I don't have a pipe wrench and was trying to manage with a vice grips. This worked with three smacks of the hammer!
Glad we could help.
You are the real MVP, finally a video that actually helped!!!
Glad we could help.
Great video! The pipe wrench tip worked for me. Thanks!
Glad we could help.
Was about ready to throw my chair out a window until I came across this vid. Appreciate the clutch tip.
Perfect - thank you so much! I love that the Ikea chair I was repairing has a sticker with the gas cylinder highlighted saying, "Do not attempt to replace or repair" Hah!
Glad we could help.
That made it so much easier to do. I had issues... but I think it was using the rubber mallet. Using a regular hammer, I was able to get the parts apart. And the hint on where to hit on the base of the chair. New cylinder installed and sitting high again! Thank you
Glad we could help.
I used a rubber mallet, too. The technique of creating friction with one of the legs seemed to have made the difference for me
Thanks for the tip: the rubber mallet was making it impossible for me as well. I was coming from another video.
Your comment was of a great help.
cheers, watched a few videos and couldn't work it out, your suggestion you might have to use a lot of force on the pipe wrench to break things free did the job. Literally jumped on it and it came free.
Glad we could help.
Been attempting to replace the cylinder on my chair for two days now. -Your advice of where to hit the base worked and my cylinder fell right out. thanks for your video.
That's sweet spot. Just be careful if the mechanism has a plastic cover.
The hammer way works!!! Thank you 😊
swag
Glad it helped.
The hammer was the key. FYI, those flat base pieces are standard. I just replaced the base of a 10 year old chair and the screws fit in the exact same spots. I don't know why the cushions in my old chair have lasted longer than my 2 new chairs that didn't make it a year.
Excellent explanation! You are the best! Congrats!
Thank you! Glad this helped.
Thanks for the video.....I replaced mine (warranty cylinder) and working great!
Awesome. Glad we can help.
You are the best! Worked like magic!!!
Glad we could help.
Appreciate the video, brother. Just what I was looking for.
Glad we could help.
You sir are a life saver. I had to replace the cylinder on my chair and had no crescent wrench. Your tip with the hammer was so helpful. I can’t thank you enough.
Glad we could help.
You helped me a lot, perfect video. Thank you from Australia.
"Cheers"! Glad we could help.
very helpful i just bought an auction lot of 20 Eames style chairs and one or two have that sinking feeling !! thanks dude
Glad we could help.
Thank you so much I may or may not have been yelling and cussing for over an hour trying to get this off. I had watched many videos but one as detailed as yours. I got it after just 2 hits thank you :)
NIce work. Glad we could help.
The pipe wrench method is the only method I know of .I also just found out they make a tool to remove gas cylinder
Yes, at 9to5 Seating we sell that tool as well. I have yet to do another video showing how it works. Probably in the near future.
thanks for this! I didn't have a pipe wrench but the hammer method worked great.
Glad we could help.
Thanks. Was bashing with a rubber mallet and making no progress removing the gas strut. Saw your video and got a metal claw hammer and smashed it to remove.
Glad we could help.
Thank you. Your sideways hammer tech gave me the confidence I needed to use a bigger hammer. Baby sledge finally got the freaking base off. Jfc.
Glad we could help.
Thank you! I didnt have a pipewrench and about gave up and then saw this video and was able to give it about 6 wacks per step and solved the issue without having to leave the house.
Glad we could help.
Thank you🎉👏👏👏
Dad and I did it through your easy step by step guided 🥳🙏
Glad we could help.
note to self: next time, watch a TH-cam video! i got a new rolling chair to replace my old, torn up, but VERY well built one with metal casters, and it turned out the manufacturer didn't include the cylinder in the box. i thought it would be a simple matter to take the top off the old chair and use the base but the disassembly was a frustrating 2.5 hour slog that went nowhere, because i was stymied that the connection from the cylinder didn't seem to be attached by an obvious method like a set screw, but was instead tightly compressed via body weight pressure and a friction fit.
i did hammer it a lot with no success. it didn't even occur to me that a pipe wrench was what i needed until i saw your excellent and informative video! it was really stuck and even though i tried to protect it with some foam the wrench definitely scored up the chrome surface of the cylinder. however, after much back and forth, it finally released and i was able to assemble the new top and triumphantly place it on the older cylinder and bottom. thanks so much for the tip!
Yes; older chairs can be a major pain to remove. Using a pipe wrench will damage the cylinder and its recommended you request a new one from the factory. Glad we could help.
Very helpful i changed it in 5min with hammer .
Thanks a lot!
Glad we could help.
Thanks mate, this vid was a big help....piston removed!
Nice job.
Thank you so much! I was about to cut up the fabric on my chair to get the parts loose. Once I knew where to hit a couple of whacks with a hammer broke the two pieces apart and I could reassemble the chair with the new base!
Glad we could help.
Worked, though not as easy as in the video. The chair was 12 months old, old young son sat on it and gas lift went, cheap make, but it wouldn't budge at first, but pipe wrench eventually got it turning and out. Thanks
Nice work glad we could help. The chair in the video was brand new and removal almost took no effort. Simply for cinematic excitement only :)
thanks man.. lots of love to you from India... 😀
Glad this video helped you.
Perfect!!! The easiest way to do it!! I appreciate you.
Glad we could help.
Tried the hammer and pipe wrench and soaked it with wd40 would not budge. Ended up using a press. Had to remove the up down paddle to get a solid fitting on the cylinder to make a good contact. Did the trick. Was apparently pretty rusty.
You did way more work than we would try. Nice job!
Thank you so much for the great instruction.
Glad we could help.
Thank you for this video,now I can remove and replace my office chair on my own👍👍✌️✌️
Glad we could help.
Amazing video , thanks for the help !
Glad we could help.
Thank you, this is exactly what i needed to see to finally dismantle it!
Glad we could help.
@@ContractOfficeReps I successfully did it yesterday 👍
Dude...great video! The hammer did the trick for the base and the mechanism.
Glad we could help.
Excellent video. Another way I found to remove the strut was I unscrewed and removed the seat base from the mechanism and taped the top end (ram) with a punch after spraying it with WD-40, and it slid out easily.
Glad we could help. Yes that is definitely another way of doing; however a little more involved than what most people want to do.
NICE!!!! I WAS NOT ABLE WITH THE PIPE WRENCH DUE TO LACK OF FORCE! (SHORT WRENCH) BUT A FEE HITS WITH THE HAMMER GOT IT LOOSE!!!
Glad we could help.
Great video. I will be trying this soon.
Glad we could help.
It was a very helpful video. Thank you.
Glad we could help.