Has any one managed to re-attach the stand after using the VESA adaptor?

Question

I have just bought a 27-inch replacement for my 24 inch LED display and wanted to swap them over, using the 24" as an external for my MacBook Pro. The 24" was wall mounted and I had a VESA adaptor fitted. I took the 24" off and replaced with the 27" (looks great), but now I am unable to re-attach the 24" stand in a usable manner. The arm, which you are required to pull out and lock when you fit the adaptor, will not return into the back of the monitor: it remains locked and I have been unable to unlock it. The screen is therefore stuck in a fully forward position, meaning the only way I can use it is by kneeling on the floor in front of the desk. Not ideal.
Has anyone managed to successfully re-fit the stand to an LED Cinema Display, and if so was there a "trick" to it?

Answer 1

How to reattach stand to 27" iMac (2009)
I learnt the following;
1. Plan carefully - read the advise discussions on this Apple forum. It's a 2 x person job in places.
2. Tools - ensure you have the correct Torx screw driver or Allen key before you start as I learnt the hard way that
it is very very easy to round off the heads of the 8 x tiny little screws that attach the stand back onto the iMac.
3. If the screws don't come out easily you have a problem - After hours of trying I managed to get 6 of the 8
screws out - the other 2 I had to get a power drill and drill them through - lesson here is don't over tighten the screws
when you put them back in.
4 Don't worry if you do not have all 8 screws to put back in - I had 6 good ones left after the efforts to remove them
and this works fine as with most Apple things it is a slightly over engineered product.
5. Make sure you lay the iMac face down onto a blanket once removed from VESA arm.
6. Little tip - Once I had removed 4 of the screws I put wooden cocktail sticks into some the holes as I had read
in these forums that some "iMackers" had problems as the 8 x screw block had recessed back into the iMac itself.
If this happens it's very difficult to pull back out - hence the cocktail sticks to prevent this from happening.
7. Use a second person to hold the stand in place while you put the screws back into the iMac. (as stated don't over tighten them)
8. Now to release the latch to ensure the iMac tilt action works as designed. Be patient here especially with utilising the plastic card that came with the Visa mount which is optimised for this job - if you don't have one use a plain unbossed card. Recommend push the iMac fully forward and turn the lights down - then use a torch and shine into the area where the latch is - carefully insert card about 3/4 inch and release the latch - you can feel it release when successful - if you look carefully into the recess area with your torch on you can just about see it - second person helps here:)
9. Once latch is released by person one the second person slowly rotates the tilt action back and then forward throughout the full range of the iMac tilt action and hopefully that is you done:)
Overall - Not easy - frustrating at times - screws are a pain - plan carefully - have the right tool for the 8 x screws is a must - torch helps to find the release latch - to Apple I would say that the screws are not the best and of poor engineering quality which is unusual for you!
Hope this helps.
Kind Regards Alasdair.