How to remove a fireplace mesh curtain rod?

Factual Questions
1

Our wood-burning fireplace is about 20 years old, and the mesh curtain that stops sparks from shooting out is the worse for wear. I’d like to replace it with something like this.

However, I can’t figure out how to remove the rod so that I can slide the curtain off. Our house was a modular, and the fireplace is one of those steel manufactured jobs (a Martin SCF36MH). So it’s possible that the curtain and rod were installed in the factory.

Here are pictures of the rods (one for each side’s curtain).

The rods go directly into the side wall of the fireplace, come across, then bend 90 degrees and go up into holes in the top center of the fireplace (that right-side pic is looking straight up). There is some play at the center—the rods push up and down. I’ve tried jiggling them around to see if it’s a pop-out kind of situation, but I don’t want to wrench anything too hard.

Anyone have any experience with something like this, or any idea of how to get the rods out? My painful alternative will be potentially twisting the hooks off the rod one by one (they are looped to connect to the mesh keychain-style). But I’m hoping there’s an elegant solution I just can’t see.

ETA: The manufacturer, Martin, is out of business.

2

From the pics I expect that the rods have nuts on them where they attach in the middle. So you’re probably going to have to figure out how to loosen the frame enough that you can slide it out enough to get a wrench on it.

Good luck!

ETA:
Alternatively, you could cut off the old screen and use some chainmail links to hang the new one.

Bonus! You should have enough links left over to fashion your very own mail coif.

3

Just looked closer at the one you want to use. You wouldn’t need the chain mail links. Just spread the D rings enough to get on the rod and then squeeze them shut once hung.

4

That’s true. I can just clip off the old one and work the new screen’s rings on one at a time.