Chair Ahoy

Well, that wasn’t the brightest thing I’ve done lately. I tried to repair my chair. The hydraulic lift went out on it some time ago and I’ve been putting up with the ding donged thing hoiking up fast and falling like a freight elevator other times. Found the manufacturer (since Office Depot no longer carries the chair and doesn’t want to honor their lifetime warranty since I’ve long since misplaced the receipt) and they assured me that for $17.50 I could purchase a new hydraulic. They were a bit vague about putting it on but assured me it wasn’t that difficult.

I should have tapped into my awesome psychic powers at that point and avoided what happened tonight.

So, the hydraulic came today. No instructions. I looked online and found other people in similar positions and printed out some of the discussions about fixing your own chair.

I did get the base off with a few well placed hammer hits. I was unable to withdraw the broken hydraulic. I pounded on that sucker with mighty effort. Tried chisels and screwdrivers and sweated a lot. Even took the hydraulic apart. (Note: Wear safety glasses.) Nothing worked.

Stood there, arms akimbo, having a hot flash considering the mess on my study floor. Put it back together again.

Except, now this piece is poking out from the hydraulic and won’t go back in again. So, I’m sort of teetering on what before was a pretty stable office chair. Can’t wheel it around anymore since the piece poking out is longer than the base. Wonderful.

Okay….took time out for a popsicle and to think about it. Took it apart again and found an extra piece inside the cover….put that on and now it’s back together again good as new...sort of.

What I'll do is take the new hydraulic lift to work and see if any of our guys can fix one of the chairs in the office with a similar problem. They actually did fix one some time ago. I remember them telling me it was a horrible job. I can see why.