How to Remove and Replace a Chair Cylinder with a hammer or pipe wrench. 

Thank you so much i was looking for a fix and after several videos this is the only one that helped !

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

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.

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!!!

Dude, you're the best. I was struggling with this, my chair cylinder had an alarming amount of rust, but with your advice, WD-40, pacience and time did the trick. Many thanks

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

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!

Thank you so much for the information you gave in order to swap the cylinder for my chair.

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.

Your video here is by far the most concise and gave the clearest instructions (with trades tips) on this task. Thank you so much!

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.

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!!!

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!!!

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,

Worked like a champ. Two well placed hammer blows as recommended in the video and off came the cylinder. Well done.

This video gives great advice and it worked perfectly for my chair cylinder change. Many thanks

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.

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

Thank you, dude. I didn't think anything would work but your technique worked like a charm.

Excellent all the way through! I got my old cylinder off following your instructions, after failing to do so following a number of other RU-vid videos. Thank you so much!

This was exactly what I needed after trying a bunch of methods on other videos, props

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!

Best video ever! I didn't have a pipe wrench, so this hammer method worked great. Thanks for the instructions!

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!

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

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

Awesome - was struggling with a noble chair - looked at other videos - this one was spot on!

Great video. Worked like a charm for my chair. Thanks!

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.......

Sir, I salute you. I lost several hours with wrench without even single thought try hammer instead. All was done in 5 minutes afterwards

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!

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.

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!

👍 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!

You are the real MVP, finally a video that actually helped!!!

Thank you for this video! It worked for me too. I had a bunch of trouble with using a mallet but a real hammer was the trick for me.

Your the best!!! And Lauren!!

Excellent explanation! You are the best! Congrats!

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.

What a well presented video that works. Well done!

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

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!

Thank you so much for this tutorial, the help that it gave me was so appreciated

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

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.

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!

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.

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!

It took me a while, but your steps worked just right. Thanks so much for the informative video.

I used the hammer method to remove both bottom and top sections. Thanks for the useful demo.

Thank you for your simple, yet brilliant video, 2 wacks on one piece and 3 wacks on the other and it's done!!! Now I can pack up this awful chair in it's original box and return it🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤

Great stuff, thanks mate, good points to keep the cylinders working longer.

The amount of frustration you just saved me. Thank you!

Thank you🎉👏👏👏 Dad and I did it through your easy step by step guided 🥳🙏

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. 😉

You helped me a lot, perfect video. Thank you from Australia.

You guys rock worked like a charm!!! Although using the hammer to hit the pipe wrench to "move" it works better

The hammer way works!!! Thank you 😊

Very helpful i changed it in 5min with hammer . Thanks a lot!

Thanks mate! It worked as you said. I put a bit of DW40 cos it was a bit stuck and voila!!

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!

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!

very helpful i just bought an auction lot of 20 Eames style chairs and one or two have that sinking feeling !! thanks dude

The hammer trick helped immensely, thank you for the helpful tips!

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 :)

Dude, you rock. I was trying every which way. No tools but a hammer. 03:28 - two swipes did it for me. Much appreciated.

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.

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

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.

Great video! The pipe wrench tip worked for me. Thanks!

Perfect!!! The easiest way to do it!! I appreciate you.

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.

Thanks for the video.....I replaced mine (warranty cylinder) and working great!

I was able to replace it by referring to the video! Thank you very much.　from Japan

thanks for this! I didn't have a pipe wrench but the hammer method worked great.

Thank you so much. I had to replace one of those cheep steel bases since one of the wheel holes got broken. Hitting with the side of the hammer was very effective as I didn't have a rubber mallet on hand and I was afraid of breaking the cylinder after some hard whacks with the head of the hammer.

Thank you for this video,now I can remove and replace my office chair on my own👍👍✌️✌️

Thank you so much! It worked perfectly!

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

Worked perfectly for me. Thanks alot! 💪🙏

this video makes the base removal look so easy. i was bashing it with a mallet for half an hour and it didnt seem to budge at all. i put some oil on there, gonna leave it overnight. hopefully it will move

Thank you so much for this, I fully thought I was gunna have to fork out for a pipe wrench but I simply held the chair up in the air by the cylinder and one good hit with the hammer and it was off!

Thanks... took 2 minutes to remove and replace. Great...

Very clear thank you. I’m a mechanic and will use a small sledgehammer that will be perfect for this job

Thank You so much, your video really helped me a lot, I have a new chair now.

Thank you, this is exactly what i needed to see to finally dismantle it!

2 year old chair, hammer did the trick.. great video & much appreciated

Appreciate the video, brother. Just what I was looking for.

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

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.

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.

Great video. I will be trying this soon.

Thank you. You saved me from going out to buy a pipe wrench. The hammer worked perfectly.

That tap to the base, with the hammer, is an awesome tip. Thanks.

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.

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.

Watched another videos, this one got it done! Hammer only!

Excellent information Thank you

good one, helped me to replace all 3 wheels..

note to self: next time, watch a RU-vid 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!