hi, how do I remove the two reducers on the top eyelet of a fox shock? the bottom two kinda
just popped out .

http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/Content/Service/Rear_Shocks/reducer_maintenance2011.htm

… shows I need a bolt extractor, but none of my local hardware shops can help, and other internet searches have said try pliers but no dice. Any tips?

Thanks in advance

If you can’t get them out and you have no noticeable play in the shock then i’d leave them alone, or if you have play in the inner bush and need them out you could try using vice grips on the reducer collar or use a vice to hold the reducer collar and wiggle the shock side to side.

They are never “seized in” properly

If you’re talking about the top hats I managed to get a (decent) cutlery type knife between the hat/shock and worked it around (get the blade well under and then twist knife (*edit get a knife where the blade thickens from the edge)

Water pump pliers also work (be gentle).

I have to take them out in order to fit to a new bike with different sized top hats. I have dropped a little oil in there and tried pliers with no joy . Don’t really mind if I trash them as I don’t need them

If you don’t mind trashing them then either a vice or a pair of locking pliers.

FWIW I can always get them out using the pipe gripping bit of normal pliers, concentrate on rotating them with a hint of sideways effort and they should come out. A toe-strap around normal pliers handles is a decent substitute for locking pliers in this instance.