I’ve stupidly left my circlip pliers at home and it’s too late to grab a set anywhere.

I was hoping to get a quick ride in before stuff starts tomorrow, but without changing airshaft fork is way too long for my bike.

Pretty sure I can ping it off with a screwdriver, but refitting might be more of a challenge.

Anyone want to tell me from experience that I will be fine or that I should just wait for shops to open?

Wait. It’s tricky enough even with the pliers.

you WILL scratch the air shaft without them

Thanks… you may have just saved my fork from me !

Nah. You don’t need them to remove the air shaft at all. You will need to take the top cap off though, so you’ll need a good 24mm socket to do that. I generally remove both then clean out the inner leg by pushing a rag through it with a wooden dowel. (Wood won’t damage the fork)
It’s a piece of piss to push the shaft out through the top though, it’s not at all necessary to remove the base. I can’t for the life of me see how you’d even come close to scratching it tbh.

… got a link for doing it through the top? I was preparing to do things per manual. Sockets shouldn’t be a problem, although it won’t be one of those ground down flat faced ones if that matters…

Personally, I’d rather be careful with a sharp edges adjustable rather than a rounded edge socket.

Yeah you need them. PITA even with them

Onza, what I was worried about. I keep meaning to get a flatted 24mm :/

Bookmarking.

Peterpoddy’s absolutely right,the spring can go out either way. It’s easier- or less fiddly rather- to take it out the bottom imo but if I wanted to do it, and didn’t have circlip pliars, I’d definitely go out the top rather than try and bodge the circlip.

My concern going out the top would be taking the seal past the threads.

My concern going out the top would be taking the seal past the threads.

Which is exactly why the manufacturer instructs it to be done by removing the circlip etc. – but there’s always someone who thinks they know better.

The manuals are there for good reason – follow them.

Also worth saying that you can’t take it out from the top on a boost Pike, or the yari/Lyrik. These have a tapered stanchion with a different topcap and the piston/seal won’t go through. As others have suggested, usually best to follow the manual.