Keg valve and air purging questions?

I purchased a keg system last week and it just arrived a few days ago. This is my first time with kegging and I've got a couple of questions.

1. Last night I was disassembling one of the kegs to clean and sanitize it prior to filling it with a batch i've had in secondary for a while now. When i removed the gas in valve and the beer out valve from the top of the keg, I wasn't able to figure out how to get the poppet out of them? I tried pushing in from the top of the valve, but I didn't want to press too hard fearing I would damage the valve somehow. Is this the correct way to get that piece out, or is there some other way?

2. The kegs I bought are pin lock, and they only have a static pressure relief valve on the lid, there is no pull ring to release pressure. The kit did come with a small plastic piece that fits onto the gas in valve to release pressure. So my question is when I do the initial 30 psi CO2 shot to purge air from the keg, am I going to need to disconnet the gas line and use the small plastic piece to purge the air out of the keg, or is there some other way to do this while leaving the gas line connected?

I appreciate any help or advice you guys can pass my way. Thanks.

1) they should come out fairly easily, try soaking it for a bit.

2) yes with pin locks, charge the tank, ten remove the gas in line and bleed out pressure to purge o2. I do it twice.

Some poppets are designed with legs that lock into the sides of the post as it is not an item they intended to remove for routine maintenance. You need to gently pry away the legs with a small screwdriver to get them out. However you can break them if not careful. I'd just soak the entire post/poppet in Oxyclean or whatever you are using to clean and then sanitize it.

I have both kinds of pinlocks.. One has the poppets that you normally see with the smaller legs.. The other has longer legs.. They both come out with a little pressure or a good tap.. I use a small plastic dowel to remove them and set them after I put them back in.. I use a small SS piece of tube to put them in so I can compress the spring from the bottom but if it doesn't stay I gently bend the legs out so it will stay seated and compressed until I screw the post back on. When I say set with the poppet, after I have the post back on I press the poppet down so they seat on top of the tube.. I also suggest cutting down the gas side to 1 inch so if you over fill the keg a little you don't get a face full of beer when you purge the head space..

Thanks for the answers. I've got a black IPA in the keg carbing up right now