The Original Office Chair Cylinder Removal Tool (As Seen On PBS) - Easily Remove Your Old Gas Lift Piston from Any Office Chair

I could not remove the piston with any size pipe wrench, however this tool was able to disconnect the piston. Initially it slipped a bit because I needed to tighten it more. Once securely on the piston it worked like a charm.

We just removed the old cylinder from a pre-2013 Herman Miller Aeron classic chair I was given with this amazing and easy-to-use tool. I'm a 64-yr old fit woman, and my husband is 65 with a bum shoulder. We tried a pipe wrench to no avail, hitting it with a rubber mallet after using some penetrating oil. After reading users' tips, I let penetrating oil sit on both ends of the old cylinder overnight (tapped lightly on the cylinder to create a little space for the oil to seep into the tight spaces), cleaned the grease off, and then used this gadget, which worked like a charm! At first, there wasn't enough space to insert the allen wrench to turn the long screws since the seat was stuck in the lowest position. So we decided to hit the base with a rubber mallet to loosen the cylinder. We were then able to twist the base up about half an inch, which allowed enough room to insert the allen wrench into the top of the screw. It only took about 10 half turns on each side to remove the cylinder from the seat bottom.

I bought this to replace gas cylinder for a Humanscale Freedom chair. Due to malfunctioning cylinder as chair did not rise, lower or rotate side to side or spin. stuck frozen. replaced cylinder with this tool .This works well. (although it involves first removing legs section first . I was impressed how easy this works. as explained first ring of two rings should seat loose a bit. 2nd ring tighten the screw (keep it tight). before you do this, remove the clip under the cylinder, and slide out the cylinder inner rod to separate legs with outer cover of the cylinder still attached to the leg section (TIP: you should keep the entire chair in straight line as possible so that inner rod comes out without get stuck (found out if you put the entire chair so that front of the chair on the floor not the back of the chair on the floor ) inside cylinder rods easily slides out. if not give slight twist etc. Then you use this tool. it is a amazing it works nice easy. I highly recommend this to anyone. Tip 2 if you are doing this job in a carpeted apt. be sure to put cloth or flatten box to avoid oil stain your carpet. when you flip the leg upside down to tap the out cylinder out, use something soft not to dent or cheap the paint etc. First job took about 30 min or less. hope next one will be 5 min job.

After repeated unsuccessful attempts with my small pipe wrench, I decided to try this tool. First try was unsuccessful because I did not tighten it enough and I had cut deep groves with my pipe wrench, so the tool slipped. Second try worked great. I did tap on the base of the chair with a hammer, but the old cylinder came right off. My advice is to try this before using a pipe wrench.

Absolutely perfect, had a gas shock that had failed on my gaming chair and absolutely no method had worked in removing it, pipe wrench couldn't rotate it, WD-40 couldn't break through, hammers did nothing, even applying heat with a heat gun had no effect. I struggled with it's removal for two days before deciding to look for a better solution. This is that solution, right tool for the job absolutely applies here. I did run into an issue where, despite the holes not being lined up when I started, the rings somehow aligned themselves while I was going through the extraction process. Chewed up the threads pretty good before I noticed, too. That said, backed them out, changed the orientation of the ring providing the leverage and began again, the shock was detached in under 10 minutes even with my hiccups. This tool is glorious and worth every penny. Buy with confidence, it absolutely works. 10/10 now a permanent resident in my tool closet.

Note: Be sure to clean the upper part of your cylinder before using this tool! I just got done using this tool to remove a new, but WAY too short cylinder in my new office chair. THe previous Cylinder was only in use for 3 days but was still very much stuck on. Use of this tool is VERY simple. Install the upper collar to where it's snug but not tight, Install the long screws in the bottom collar then install that under the upper collar, this time making sure it's tight. Turn the long screws one turn each side until the chair's tilt-head pops off. If the cylinder is too well greased and slips like the this one did, just ratchet one screw up into the upper collar, then hit the base of the chair with a dead-blow hammer. It should then pop right off. Bottom part of the cylinder, just give it a few whacks with the hammer and it should pop off. Not a bad little tool to keep in the maintenance drawer in the office!

Easy to use and very effective removal tool. BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

Why did you pick this product vs others?: I bought a "used-like new" item to save a couple bucks, but it would have absolutely been it at the full price ($20 at time of purchase). It can be very hard to beat just having the right tool for the job. The only advice I would add is to make sure that the tight collar is good and tight. On my first go, I ultimately realized I was just sliding the tight collar down the cylinder instead of pushing the tilt mechanism off. I repositioned, tightened better, and the parts separated much faster than expected. I have chair that needs a new tilt mechanism, and had tracked down and ordered one but had trouble getting the old mechanism off the cylinder. I have used the chair for 14 or 15 years, and I gather it is not unusual for removal to be very difficult under those circumstances. I had tried using a pipe wrench (24") to break friction by turning the piston, but I had trouble restraining the chair seat from turning when I used the wrench. A workshop with a well-secured vice might have resolved that issue, but it would have cost more than I spent on this. Comments for those who report success with the pipe wrench method often mention using a lot of WD40 and multiple applications over several days. There is a LOT to be said for a one-and-done tool as this turned out to be for me. Smart money says that this was bought used (successfully, I'd guess) and returned, and now I've used it again. I have little doubt it would work at least a couple more times...which is probably enough to outlast me, given how infrequently I've needed to repair office chairs. In general, if you are looking at a chair repair, make sure you are happy with the cushion and back. If you are unhappy with those, you probably just want a new chair. Cylinders, casters, and the star-shaped bases are pretty easy to find replacements for, from what I've seen. Tilt mechanisms can be more difficult; measure carefully. That said, a $30 tilt mechanism and $20 for this tool is far cheaper than the $200 I was looking at to replace my chair with a like one.

These were so easy to use and worked fabulously! Wasn't sure if I would need or not. Why wouldn't you want to. Put them on, top one a bit loose, second one snug and then just turn the two bolts and done. So easy and no hammering required to loosen the cylinder from the chair.

Great tool! Did not expect that it will be that easy to remove the airlift!

Works as intended. Video made understanding how to use the tool to remove the gas cylinder super easy and straightforward. Took about 15-20 mins total to unpack, install clamps, remove gas cylinder, remove cylinder from wheelbase and reattach new cylinder to wheelbase. 5/5

This didn’t fit my pre-2013 Herman Miller Aeron, so I reached out to the seller to see if they had another option that would work. The product itself is solidly made and excellent quality, and I truly wanted to give them my business. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a fit for my chair but their communication and customer service were outstanding. They went above and beyond my expectations, and I wholeheartedly recommend this company.

Where hammer, wrenches, WD-40 failed, this tool succeeded, solved my problem quickly and easily.