Office Chair Gas Cylinder Replacement Kit, Heavy Duty Class 4 Hydraulic Piston for Desk and Gaming Chairs, Kit Includes Removal Tool, Gloves, Universal Fit Gas Cylinder

TL;DR - If you're really short & your seat is already bottomed out with a stock cylinder to be at a comfortable height skip this product since it will make your lowest setting way to high. Also, be prepared to put in some labor to replace any cylinder even with removal tool included with this one it's a pain in the ___!Okay, now let's get into the review for the rest of you that are still with me. First, my name is Jerry (aka. Barnacules) and I'm a career Technology YouTube content creator (Sat) and Twitch live streamer (Mon-Wed-Fri) and you can find me everywhere under the channel/page name Barnacules Nerdgasm ™️ including all social media platforms just make sure it's a verified account since I do get impersonated a fair bit.I've been using a Noble Hero Black Edition gaming chair (275lb) rated for a little over a year now after replacing my old DX Racer King Series chair because it was finally falling to bits after 5 years of heavy use. I always thought it was odd that the Noble chair being built to a better quality than the DX Racer chair in most respects was rated for so much less weight (275lb instead of 330lb for DX Racer). It became obvious after a year of use with me weighing 390lb that the weak link on this Noble chair is the stock piston since it started leaking after about a year of use. It would hold air fine but if I shifted my weight to left or right it would deflate so you had to do a balancing act to keep it up but fully deflated it was super uncomfortable sitting way too low for me and I'm 5'10.Since the rest of the chair was still holding up well and showing zero signs of wear, I decided to fix the piston and move forward with it. I'm glad I made this decision because the pistons are literally only $15-$20 for a replacement and completely change the chair for the better. I noticed this gas cylinder was rated for 1000lb which is insane, and I thought it was just a gimmick but when it arrived it's clearly a lot bigger and a lot heavier than the stock one that came with the chair.The first thing I asked myself is why the heck would a $399 chair come with such a weak cylinder only allowing their chair to support 275lb under warranty when $15 parts (retail price) makes it capable of holding 1000lb since the rest of the chair is all heavy duty steal construction that won't break. The answer to this question became obvious after installing it and boy did it put up a fight trying to remove the broken one so be patient and use the included tools and some other techniques, I'll include at the end of this review to save you from pulling your hair out.The first thing you'll notice is that this piston isn't cushy at all, it's very stiff, it will basically prevent you from breaking your back when you bounce up and down on it but little more. The reason it's rated to 1000lb is because it's so much stiffer and it doesn't appear to be adjustable so to get the extra weight handling, they obviously installed a much heavier spring and seal. So if you like your chair to bounce up and down super cushy this isn't the piston for you. The higher the weight rating the stiffer it will be. Now most chairs you don't want to bounce up and down since it changes the leg height to the floor so it's only really good if you're getting up and sitting down a ton in which it can take some stress off your back but while sitting it does nothing to bounce up and down unless you have raging ADHD in which case, you'll find another way *lol*.You'll also notice that when you install this your chairs lowest position will go up by about 1-2 inches which doesn't sound like a ton, but it really is. Now my chair is almost bottomed out on the cylinder to get height perfect where old piston I had 50% of the way up to achieve same height. So like I said at the beginning of this review look else ware if you already run your chair at the lowest height settings. Now if you happen to be 5'10-7' then this piston has you covered for sure! At its highest setting the keyboard is level with my crotch 🤣But, you'll also immediately notice the chair is MUCH MUCH MUCH more stable than with the stock cylinder at the high heights. I noticed with the stock cylinder the chair would rock side to side more and had more flex in it but with this $15 upgraded piston it's solid as a rock. Almost like it's just a giant round chunk of steel now holding the chair up. This makes it much better for people like me that are heavy (380lb) and like to lean weight from left to right and rest in all kinds of positions while live streaming and gaming to remain comfortable.I can tell you right now this is the single best upgrade you can make to any office chair because it will make it far sturdier, raise its effective height range and you won't be able to bottom out the piston even if you're on my 600lb life on TLC which is honestly where I'm heading with all the health problems that have hit me over the last few years unfortunately. But all joking aside this is well worth the $15 and the gloves that come with it are also very nice for gripping onto the bolts and making the greased parts easier to handle.** IMPORTANT **Now for some of the tips & tricks that you need to know when swapping out pistons/cylinders, so you don't go absolutely mad. First off if you're heavy like me the piston is going to be super wedged in there and wont just pull straight out. You're welcome to try at first to see if you got lucky but chances are it's basically rung together (cold weld) and you're not going to get it to budge. This is where the tool comes in handy that is included with this cylinder but not all of them so be sure you get this tool if you buy one that doesn't come with it.Now this tool works by connecting 2 rings to the shaft right under where it goes into the chair to pressure fit into the upper base (directly under the seat). You leave the top one loose and tighten the bottom one down as much as possible then tighten the lengthening screws on each side 1 turns each over and over until it breaks free and comes out. You may have to move it up 2-3 times and repeat until it releases depending on how far it went in. DO NOT HIT ANYTHING WITH A HAMMER ON THIS SIDE, SAVE THAT FOR THE BOTTOM.Okay, now hopefully you have the chair off the base and disconnected from the piston but now you have to remove the piston from the base which is the hardest part of this whole operation 99% of the time. You'll notice it won't want to come out with just hand force unless you're like 50lb and nobody fat ever sat in your chair. The worst by far is when it's an Aluminum base (star at the bottom with wheels in it) because they like to get super tight around the steel piston since they have different rates of thermal expansion going on. With a plastic base sometimes, you just hit it with a hammer, and it falls out right away, but I've seen other people have to heat it with a blow dryer to get the plastic to soften up to release it, just be careful and take your time and don't use crazy amounts of force. Focus on using heat and cooling to your advantage with the plastic bases so you don't destroy it.However, if you have the more common and heavy-duty Aluminum base (also works with steal just takes longer) you'll want to heat it up with a torch or heat gun and give it a good smack from the bottom with a hammer to see if it will pop out. Just keep gradually heating more and more until eventually it will give when the aluminum expands much faster than the steel breaking the suction. I recommend using a plastic hammer but since the old cylinder is shot anyways beating it to a pump with a metal hammer will do the trick even faster if you don't have a dead blow.But seriously, I can't emphasize enough, don't just whale on it with a hammer hoping it comes free. You'll end up cracking the base and then it won't work anymore. You really need to use heat to loosen it up and get it out. Also helps to put some penetrating oil on it once you heat it up like WD40 to cause it to heat and cool cycle and suck some of that lube down into the hole. Another trick is to put some WD40 into the hole or grease before putting the new piston in place so it will come out easier next time when you heat it up and the grease will burn off releasing some pressure.I hope this review helps you and saves you a ton of time because I just had to learn this all on my own doing it the hard way and it really wore me out, so I decided to take 30 minutes and write this review for you, so you don't have to struggle like I did wonder if you'll ever get the piston replaced once you have the chair apart. if you follow my instructions, you'll be done in 10 minutes and your back won't be destroyed 🤗Good luck and hit me up on Twitter or Twitch chat if you find this useful, I always love hearing from the people who I can help save some time though sharing my experiences. It's kind of what I do for a living these days.

My chair is back. For several weeks it had been sinking as I sat in it. A few minutes of work and a good YouTube video to help get the old cylinder out and we''re back in business. Instructions were easy to follow and it fit and worked perfectly. Unfortunately, the old cylinder was very stuck. Putting the new one in was a piece of cake. The height adjustment works and holds now.

Great. I'm an 82 year female and was able to follow the directions and installed the cylinder all by myself. Thank ypu Amazon for showing this product on my search for gas cylinder. My package arrived with in 2 days, now I'm comfortable at my desk.

I'm pleased with this product, but thought full-disclosure instructions might be in order--especially since contacting customer service will result in a polite, but unhelpful, "But we gave you all the tools you needed..."From the reviews, it looks as if much/most of the time, the kit does provide all you need (with the exception of a rubber mallet and WD-40). However, this was decidedly NOT the case in my experience1) Before you do anything, read these notes all the way through.2) Watch 3-4 YouTube videos on how to replace the pneumatic cylinder in an office chair.3) Assemble all the tools you need. In addition to the kit, you should have available:* safety goggles* rubber mallet* screwdrivers* can of WD-40* old newspaper/magazines* permanent marker* hammer* large, sturdy plastic trash can or bucket* paper towels* bottle of Fantastik (or similar cleaner)* LONG 6mm hex key* 18" pipe wrench* workspace where you can leave this project for up to 2 weeks[At Harbor Freight, a long-arm hex-key set is $9.99, and a pipe wrench is $7.99. Don't forget your coupons for 20%-off one item and a free flashlight/tarp/magnetic parts holder/other toy-of-the-ad-period.]4) Put on the workgloves. Perform Steps 1 and 2 in Office Owl's directions. If 2-3 good whacks with a mallet (while using more than a "medium amount of force" and wearing safety goggles) do not cause the cylinder to pop out of the base, STOP and go to Office Owl's Step 3. Otherwise, your hammering ensures that the pressure-fitted cylinder you are trying to remove will be even more jammed into the lift mechanism beneath the seat. (Now aren't you glad you're reading these instructions completely through before you... oh dear. Well, that's why you got the pipe wrench. Let's move on.)5) You're now at Step 3 of the Office Owl instructions. If the cylinder did not pop out of the chairbase (although the casters probably did), you need to adopt a divide-and-conquer strategy. If you haven't put on the work gloves yet, do so NOW. Trust me. Also, put down the old newspapers, and make sure your chair project is someplace where it won't be in the way when you need to walk away before you throw the <expletive deleted> chair out a window. With the aid of a flathead screwdriver, push/pry off the clip at the end of the old cylinder. It will separate into an outer casing that's stuck to the base of your chair, an inner cylinder that's stuck to the lift mechanism of your chair, and a number of small washers, bearings, and other bits. All of these will be coated in dirty grease and oil.6) Tackle the simple part of the task first: Get the outer cylinder casing out of the chair base. Spray WD-40 where the casing enters the chair base on both sides. Let soak for 15 minutes or, better yet, overnight. Invert the base onto and into the trash can so that the base is supported by the sides of the can and the casing is suspended. Wearing safety goggles, use the hammer and a cathartic amount of force to bash the casing out of the base. Don't be afraid of breaking the base. You probably won't, and if you do, you can order a new one. Ditto the trash can/ bucket. Clean off the WD-40 and grease from the base with the Fantastik and paper towels. Reattach casters and set base aside.7) Moving on to Steps 4 through 7 in Office Owl's instructions. In the hopes that your chair is more tractable than mine was, follow the instructions as printed with one modification: When you have the shaft collars in place, use the marker to draw a line on the old cylinder to mark the position of shaft collar b.8) If the line remains visible as you tighten the screws--congratulations! After about 1/4"- 1/2" inch of turning the screws, the cylinder will come loose. Move on to Office Owl's Step 8, which will take just a couple of minutes, and you're done.9) If the line starts to disappear as you turn the longer screws, this means that shaft collar b is slipping, and the old cylinder isn't being extracted. You can now try any of the following options 9a - 9h...possibly all of them. Some of them multiple times. In various sequences.9a) Remove the collars. Apply WD-40--carefully, so you don't get it on the chair upholstery--to the points at which the cylinder enters the lift mechanism. On both sides, if possible.9b) Replace the collars. Make sure collar a moves freely after you put it on. Put on collar b as tight as you can with the supplied Allen wrench. Then switch to a long-armed Allen wrench. This gives you more leverage, so you can tighten the collar's screws even more (close to a full turn, in my case). Try Office Owl's Step 6 again.9c) Using the appropriate screwdriver, remove the lift mechanism on the bottom of the chair. This gives you better access to both sides of the stuck cylinder and ensures that the upholstery is nowhere near when you saturate the cylinder/lift mechanism interface with more WD-40. Go off and do something else while you wait for the WD-40 to (hopefully) seep into the joint. Although it may be tempting, "something else" should probably not involve assembling a bonfire to dispose of chair and cylinder kit.9d) If upon your return you find that the button side of the old cylinder is accessible on the now exposed underbelly of the removed lift mechanism, put on your safety goggles and try bashing the cylinder with a hammer. (Depending on the type of lift/adjustment mechanism on your chair, the button side of the cylinder might not be accessible.)9e) Wearing your safety goggles, hammer on the sides of the cylinder with your mallet from all directions. This might not actually do much to loosen the cylinder, but it's a good way to vent your frustrations.9f) Holding the cylinder (aren't those non-slip workgloves in the kit great?), use the mallet to try to hammer the lift mechanism off the cylinder. (Again, probably not effective, but it did work on one of the YouTube videos.)9g) Apply the pipe wrench to the cylinder close to the lift mechanism. Try to turn the cylinder back and forth. You may even be able to wiggle out the cylinder.9h) The jaws of the pipe wrench will rough up the surface of the cylinder, which will allow shaft collar B to get a better grip. Try Office Owl's Step 6 again.In order to extract my cylinder, I did all of 9a through 9h (incidentally, 8 procedures, which is equal to the number of steps provided in the Office Owl instructions for the entire process), repeating 9b and 9h several times. I also tried to approximate option 9h with a Vis-Grip few times before making a trip to my local Harbor Freight for a set of long-armed Allen keys and a pipe wrench.So: if you persevere, it is possible to replace the pneumatic cylinder in your office chair. Just be aware that it may take more time, effort, and tools than you may have expected.10) Once you get the cylinder out, clean up with Fantastik and paper towels. Reattach the lift mechanism, making sure that the front end is indeed at the front. Touch up the dings from hammer, pipe wrench, and temper tantrums with color-matched marker.11) If applicable and desired, place the nesting-plastic-tubes-cover on the new cylinder. Then complete Step 8 of the Office Owl instructions. Don't forget to remove the plastic cap on the new cylinder, or you may have to buy a new kit and do this all over again.