What I've done to remove mine was:
Locate a broom handle the you can put a taper on the end of.
Pound it down into the damper rod.
Grab hold of it with a large pair of channel locks and loosen the hex bolt on the bottom of the leg.
The reason for this is that the damper rod will try to spin with the bolt loosening.
Some others have had luck using an impact driver on the bottom bolt.
