749 Showa leg dismantle trouble

[Willthedub]

I'm trying to take apart a Showa 749/999 fork leg

I've softened all the dampining on the top and the rebound at the bottom

Undone the top nut and drained all the oil over night

I've done the top nut back up and loosened the bottom nut that holds the damping rod

But here's the problem, I've gone to compress the leg down so the dampining rod pushes out the bottom for me to grab, but it just will not poke out

I've tried undoing it further and it just spins so I'm thinking its undone, also I've tried doing it back up but again it just spins and spins?

I'm clearly doing something wrong and I am an amateur when it comes to forks

Any clues?

[Speeddog]

Bottom bolt holds the cartridge body.

Remove all of the top nut stuff, including spring and spacers.

Invert the fork, and set it down vertically on a piece of wood (for example) so that the damper rod is touching it.

Gently compress until the damper rod bottoms out in the cartridge.

That should put enough load on the cartridge that you can spin the bolt out.

Then the cartridge will come out.

You may need to use an air impact gun to spin the bolt quick enough.

[Willthedub]

Done! Thanks Speeddog!

I thought that was the only bolt holding the lot together, turns out I wasn't removing all the top nut stuff to get to it