I am stuck. How do i remove the cylinder? I have pin removed, head bolts loose and hydraulic pressure off. The cylinder is hanging with straps and bucket supported. I tried a come-along and it wouldnt budge. I have pics but cant get to upload right now
Sounds like you are asking about removing the rod without removing the complete cylinder from machine, Right?
What I have done but does require a good amount of common sense to free up the head from the barrel is to install the head bolts back in the cylinder but leave them all with about 1/4 inch gap. Then run machine at idle and carefully operate the hoist control lever to extend the ram and piston against the head to break it free but not enough to cause a major oil leak. Then shut down the machine and operate the controls to relieve pressure in the system. This should give you a gap to get a pry bar in to help move the head. Just remember the cylinder is full of oil, probably over five gallons would be my guess. Before yanking the rod and piston out I would either remove hose to lower end of cylinder if it will let the oil out or make sure to have a way to catch the oil as the piston comes out.
Depending on the design of the machine I might try breaking the seal loose like above then draw the ram back in the cylinder with the engine running. Now 90% of the oil is out of the lower part of the cylinder. Then with engine off disconnect the hoses from the both ends of the cylinder and hook up a temporary hose to the head end of the cylinder and put it in a bucket. Now use a chain jack to pull out the ram slowly so you can catch the oil. Once piston is up to the head end remove the bolts and pull the piston/ram/head assembly free from the barrel. This way you should not loose very much oil.
Hope that all made sense!
