Frankenstein

Hello everyone. Brand new to site. Actually this is pretty much my first post ever. Here's my situation. I have recently acquired what I believe to be a 1977 masey ferguson 40b with a sherman power digger and a cab of yet another manufacturer. She's been painted more then a box car in Brooklyn and is the second prettiest girl in my lfe but the paint leaves my information fairly limited. Here's what I know. Diesel, 4 speed ranging from crawl to barely moving. (2 levers each with H-N-L), 2wd, differential lock lever on floor right side rear, will go forward or reverse in any gear via a rocker pedal at right foot (perfectly located so as to bash shin at almost every move), a valve on the right to divert hydraulic power from front (push) to rear (pull) this valve is directly below the control for the loader. Serial number 9A 275578. I've never owned or operated any type of equipment before so I'm pretty much a newbie on all platforms. The first issue I'd like to address is what I would consider to be a fairly huge hydraulic leak. Truth be told my intentions are to rebuild all the cylinders and replace all the hoses. May even sand her down and give her a new prom dress also but that's down the road.

First things first while I've never rebuilt a cylinder before, I'm about a 7 or 8 on the handy scale, so I think I can bull my way through it. I've watched endless videos on the topic and it seems to me if you infuse a little common sense and K.I.S.S. it's pretty straight forward. So I guess my first question would be if anyone knows where or how to verify what I have???

Thank you in advance for any light you may be able to shed.

Trying to include a photo of the old girl now.

A close up

Nice looking backhoe. Cant help with questions sorry