Originally Posted by
Cyclebum
After a call to Topeak's service company, Judson, they confirmed that the thin edged cap just above the hose hook, will indeed unscrew. If you don't have a pair of pliers with you, the locking protrusions on the base of the handle can be finessed to do the job.
They need a minor redesign of this cap, thicker with a serrated edge, to make it easier to loosen. Or redesign the base of the handle so it can be used to unscrew the cap.
You can do this -- that's precisely how I took my Road Morph apart today. What you do is insert the handle partway so that the little protrusion normally keeps the handle from popping up when the pump is stowed contacts the part that holds it in place.
Another way you could possibly unscrew the top if you couldn't grab the edge with pliers (not clear on why this wouldn't be easy with medium vice grips) is to put two small nails in the holes and grab those. Pliers sounds like the easy way.
When I disassembled mine, I found that the O ring was garbage from having lots of crap wash down into the tube. I got a new O ring from the LBS, put a teeny bit of pro link in the tube since it was a little rough, and had no trouble pumping my tires up past 100psi. BTW, shooting a tiny bit of thin lube down the holes would enable you to lube it. But if you're having trouble, you should really get the crap out of the tube and replace the ring.
Disassembling these things is easy -- there is no reason to pitch one just because they misbehave.