#gator guide

You will need:

A PH1 size screwdriver

a stiff, strong, thin prying tool (like a very thin flat head screwdriver, a butterknife, a palette knife, etc.)

a second stiff tool to pull/push on tabs (i used a mini plastic curved scraper)

optional, but a small magnetic mat and a small container (or just 2 containers) to hold parts and screws so you don't lose them!

This is my volunteer model ooh-koo!

She is in complete working order, both before and after the teardown. There aren't many fragile parts inside furblets (they're surprisingly simple but clever!) but I still do not recommend following through with this disassembly unless you're absolutely fine with damaging your furblet. Furblets are NOT meant to be taken apart, and are filled with 1-way safety pins in the faceplate that cannot be removed without bending/breaking them out.

To start, remove all visible screws on the underside of the furblet where the battery compartment is. There are 6 total screws, two larger ones for the battery compartment and 4 smaller ones on the outside holding the bottom on to the furb. These screws are different sizes, don't lose them and put them back in the right places! The bottom of your furby should look like this now:

(i forgot to take a photo of this initially, so she is skinless here.)

After this, you should very easily be able to lift the plastic strip holding the fur into the shell. Part of it is tucked into a nook to allow slack in the fur for lifting it over the body!

After this, gently pull the fur up and over the body shell, and flip it over the ears. These are held in place by plastic clips so be gentle and don't force it off yet.

now for the most genuinely difficult part of the whole process, unclipping the ears

Holding the ear on the front and back to sandwich the pieces together, and being VERY gentle, slide your first prying object under the wide end of the white ear clips. This will lift it to allow you to pull the clips up over the barrier. While still leaving the pry in, use your second object and push/pull on the clip. Here I am pulling since my scraper is curved and it was easiest. The T shaped clip should pop right out, but may need a lot of finagling to get it there. I stretched the second clip and damaged it, so again be slow and careful!

Repeat this process on all four tabs! Now, the skin should only be held on to the furb by the face plate.

To open up and remove the faceplate, start by removing all three screws on the back of the shell. Again, I forgot the picture initially so she is already skinless here.

Now, pull apart the two halves of the shell. The microphone is wired from the center board to the back half of the shell, so don't pull too hard or you might rip the wires out!

Pay attention to your individual furblet! Mine has pink and purple components, remember or take a picture of the lay out so you aren't confused later. the pink and purple parts on either side just pop right out, and the button slides off the peg along with its spring. This will give you full access to the backside of the motherboard.

Remove the screws on either side, and it will release the whole center plate from the front half of the shell. There is a third screw on the bottom of the center plate, but this only separates the battery contact plate and the base plate of the motherboard (i wouldn't really recommend removing it since it's not relevant to anything you need access to) The whole center plate will now just slide out of the empty front half of the shell!

There is one additional piece kind of floating on the pegs here, and it's needed so the furb recognizes button presses to the mouth. Here it's the J shaped purple piece! This just pops right off and you can see all the safety pegs for the faceplate and mouth/gem buttons. To remove the pegs, you will have to manually bend the tabs holding the pegs in place. This WILL damage your furblet. Do not go further if you aren't wanting to break anything.

After bending the tabs out, the pegs should pull straight through, releasing the whole faceplate. At this point, the skin should come right off too! Here are the inside and outside parts.

Congrats! You've completed a disassembly. To put your furblet back together, just do everything in reverse!, however please note the following:

When reassembling, be sure to replace all spring parts in their correct positions! The ear mechanisms are reliant on all of these springs to work. For the inside, make sure the Y shaped brackets are on their correct sides, and that the end of the metal spring is INSIDE the furb, pushing against the bottom plate (the left side here has a small divot where the left side spring goes, the right side just kind of sits on top of the plate)

Similarly, when replacing the shell be sure to lift the ears all the way up and close the metal pins into the shell. This puts tension on the spring so they'll be able to pop out when the button on top is pressed. Test the button to make sure everything is working mechanically!