At home and at the brewery i use sankey kegs. Kind of pain to take them apart. But ones you know how its easy. But now i have seen a sankey spear removal tool. Any one has been using this tool?
Never used it personally, but I’ve seen them used.
It presses down on the valve, which releases most of the pressure on the retaining ring. With the tool you can remove or install a spear in about a minute. Without the tool it takes a bit of prying to get at the ring. I know people do just fine without the tool but, I’m pretty sure I’d be damaging those rings. I’d definitely be doing a bunch of cussing.
Yeah me using. Two screw drivers right. Now one to push done the other stick in between. Sort of pain but it does work
I don’t have one to look at, mine seems to be missing most of the top 
Isn’t it just a snap ring? You can get a pair of snap ring pliers for about $10. Put a rag over the ball and press it down first to let off the pressure.
It’s like a snap ring, but no holes so snap ring pliers won’t work. The ring is more like a key ring, only flat, so you have to push it into, or pull it out of, the groove wth something like a flat head screwdriver, or a tile grout scraper.
I have a few sankes. Not as easy as the corny but not hard once you get the hang of it. Saw a YouTube someone drilled a small hole in the end to grab it with one side of a snap ring pliers.
Just had a thought. Maybe the ring could be replaced with a traditional snap ring
Push it out with a srew driver works. But the reason for the tool. I am looking at. The owner of the brewery did buy 50 new sankey kegs. So for me would be nice if the tool works
I don’t know how much easier it will be with the spear tool, but having the right tool for the job will not make it harder.
I’d bet using the tool AND a proper snap ring like @brew_cat has would make it dead simple.
We shall see if it speeds up the work
