Office chair cylinder replacement (Bundle)

During the pandemic, safer at home days, I started to notice that my posture was a little off and my lower back was starting to hurt. I then noticed that the chair wasn't in the proper position any longer and I was not able to raise it any higher. I knew immediately that I needed a new chair or the back pain would progressively start getting worse. However, knowing that Amazon sells everything, I decided to see if they sold just the cylinder replacement since a new chair would cost me about $200 (and my current chair was in really good condition other than the cylinder height). I opted to purchase this item due to it being a full kit as well as offering a coupon discount. When the kit arrived, my initial install try failed miserably. First, I was not able to remove the chair as I couldn't slip the hex key between the bottom collar and the stock plastic sleeve that covers the "unsightly" cylinder. I know I could've cut the sleeves off, giving me the clearance. But, I wanted to maintain the original look of the chair as much as possible. Second, no matter how hard I hammered at the bottom of the cylinder with the rubber mallet, it refused to budge and I couldn't get it to detach from the base. I even soaked the seam with WD-40 and let it sit overnight. Still, no movement at all. Try number two. I turned back to Amazon to see if they sold stubby hex keys, which I immediately ordered. Day number two, the stubbies were delivered and voila, fit perfectly between the collars and the plastic sleeves. Next thing you know, the chair was detached. I then turned my attention back to the base... I took the base and placed it on top of a five-gallon bucket and again, soaked the seam with WD-40. After an hour, I hammered the cylinder again with the mallet and to no avail. I finally turned to a metal hammer and used the side of the hammer to equally disperse the energy to the edge of the cylinder base. After a couple of strong strikes, the cylinder popped right out. Excitedly, I cleaned off the WD-40 from the base, installed the new cylinder on the base, removed the plastic button cap, and installed the chair. The cylinder worked perfectly and at its highest height, I couldn't even place my feet flat on the ground (and I'm 6'1"). This cylinder replacement, even with the stubby hex key set purchase, saved me about $140. For those who prefer a tl;dr version/tips: 1.) Buy a stubby hex key kit if the included hex key will not work between the bottom collar and plastic cylinder sleeves 2.) Remove the chair using the included collars 3.) Place chair base and cylinder upside down into a five-gallon bucket 4.) Hammer the cylinder through using the flat side of the hammer (or use a block of wood between the cylinder and hammer) 4a.) A rubber mallet was not strong enough

First of all. The piston itself is fantastic and sturdy. It is a little longer/taller than my old one so it makes my chair taller at the full extension. I don't mind this, I like my feet to dangle since I put my feet on a footstool. Do make sure to take off the small plastic cap at the top of the metal rod of the cylinder before installing or the mechanism to lift and lower will not work. That being said, the cons have nothing to do with the product itself. The hardest part of this whole process is getting your old cylinder out of your chair. At least, it was for me. After watching a couple videos of how to remove the old cylinder from the chair, I set down to take it apart. Mind you, I'm no small girl at 5'5" and 250+ lbs. Taking the star base of the chair and cylinder apart was easy. I just alternated pounding the bottom part of the cylinder and the star itself until I could pull it off. The casters came off during the process, making my cats scatter in pure terror. So...pro tip. Take off the casters. Next came the detachment of the cylinder from the bottom of the chair. I used the items they gave. The two collar type mechanism where one is supposed to be loose against the bottom of the chair and the second one is tight on the cylinder itself. In essence and theory, the tight collar is supposed to stay still while you thread the bolts through the threads and push the cylinder out of its snug little home. Sounds easy right? It should have been but the tight collar kept slipping for me. Threading the bolts only pushed the tight collar down the cylinder rather than pushing the cylinder out of the bottom of the chair. It was a rather ineffective way to pull the cylinder out for me. Frustrated and with the might of Thor running through me, I got a mallet and tried to lift the chair as I hammered the bottom of the chair. Much to my chagrin, the cylinder would not budge. Even after the application of penetrating oil. I even tried a regular wrench but only succeeded in scratching up the old cylinder. Fast forward two days later and I went to Lowe's and bought myself a 14" pipe wrench. Who doesn't need a pipe wrench in their tool box? I felt like a true, diy woman of distinction as I bought these heavy inches home. As I sat down and put the wrench to the old cylinder, I knew I was going to make it my new female dog. It was reluctant at first and I had to figure out the best position for leverage and I pushed and pulled with all my weight. After about a minute, the cylinder was out. As I belted my yell of victory and raised my hammer...er wrench above my head, I stood over my defeated enemy. My cats could finally live without the fear of loud pounding and they swarmed the enemy to further humiliate the old cylinder. Attaching the new one was easy, simply slipping into place so that I could finally claim my throne. So...tl;dr. Get yourself a pipe wrench, some penetrating oil and some brawn. The product itself is great but the tools provided may or may not work.

The chair cylinder is perfect so far, it was easy to install (not that chair cylinder's are hard to install anyway). The chair cylinder removal tool at first didn't work the way that the instructions intended, however, using just one of the clamps and using the bottom of the chair for the screws to push off of worked perfectly and was the easiest I've ever removed a chair cylinder. For those buying, you do absolutely need to make sure that this chair cylinder's height matches your old or or at least is fairly close, otherwise you will find your chair is way too high compared to before. You can find the dimensions in the product info or the images.

After battling with it and finally getting it done it sags. 160lbs on a heavy day, all installed correctly, and I can literally feel it going down as I sit here. I had to bust the retainer clip on the bottom of my old piston to get it off so....now what do I do? Replace and get a refund on this waste of time and effort and leave my chair out of action or just suck it up?? Pfft not impressed.

Quality, Packing, Instructions and even the accessories were perfect and top quality. Recommended +++

I asked a question about this, and got some feedback that it might not fit my chair, as the taper at the bottom of the cylinder might not be pronounced enough. I saw that the seller offered free returns if the lift didn't fit, and that it fits 95% of chairs out there, so I thought that I had nothing to lose. I've given it Comfort 5*, as it's made such a difference to my chair. The old lift had a cracked bushing, so flopped backwards and forwards, and side to side, and made a hideous clank noise when you sat down or stood up. I gave it 5* value for Money, as it's half the price of the next closest lift, and comes with a fitting kit and gloves. I gave it 5* ease of assembly, as once you've got the lift off the old chair, it's literally a case of dropping it in to the base and then putting the chair seat on top and pushing down. I didn't even have to adjust the offset screw for the height adjuster lever. One thing I will say is that this is *slightly* wider than the standard Aeron lift taper. This has the advantage that the bottom of the lift isn't 3mm off the floor (which is something that always bothered me). It has the disadvantage (if you can call is that) of the height of the chair being ~3-4cm higher on the minimum than it used to be. For me, this isn't a problem at all, and I have a fairly low desk. As with other reviewers, I did have a bit of an issue getting the old lift out - this is nothing to do with this new lift, so I can hardly mark them down for it. I had the same problem that everyone else had, in that the top of the lift won't come out of the chair base. The locking ring slid down the lift slightly as the bolts were tightened. Unlike others, the ring didn't slide down too far - the bolts themselves deformed the top ring, making deep holes in it. In the end, I removed the clip from the bottom (to remove the base and lower shroud). A standard hammer had no effect at all, so I ended up using a sledgehammer. It popped out with a single blow. I removed the seat from the top of the lift using a plumbers wrench. I was unable to do it by hand, but again, a quick smack from a sledgehammer took it right off. At that point it was a case of wiping out the upper and lower holes, putting the new lift into place, taking the plastic cap off, and putting the seat on top. My getting on for 25 year old Aeron is now as good as new!

The removal collar works perfectly, and the new cylinder is very strong, adding another 5cm to the total heigh if my chair which is perfect.