MF 135 hydraulic position control, episode 3

Back in May I posted my problems with the hydraulic lift (kind of worked but wouldn't stay up) and the position control (didn't really work at all, just crude up or down with the draft control).

Posted pic of broken ram lug even though it seemed rock solid and DavidP wrote: "If the lug of the lift cylinder is broken that can be enough to prevent the position control working. The cylinder will lift in one corner and probably 'blow' the O ring."

Have finally found the time to take off the cylinder and guess what I found? I think the pic is pretty self-explanatory: DavidP clearly has Xray vision that works long distance, impressive diagnosis! Many thanks David (also I did the control link tests you recommended and they checked out OK I think).

So, the questions:

1) The cylinder must obviously be replaced: should I take out the piston (how?) or get a new one?

2) The mounting bracket for the vertical control bar looks out of true (see pic), should I bend it square?

3) Anybody got any ideas how this happened? The broken lug has what looks like copper grease on it (see out-of-focus pic) so it was presumably reassembled broken ... also the bolts look like studs with nuts tacked on, and one of them is quite badly bent (!) had to be drifted out. Haven't looked for the broken lug, quess it could be in the sump somewhere ...

All comments and suggestions gratefully received.

Hello,
Well what can I say??????
There are two main ways to remove the piston assuming that you can see that the bore is relatively undamaged. 1/ With the cylinder removed, bring it down squarely and quite hard onto a block of wood. When the piston is flush bring the edge of the cylinder down until the piston is far enough out to preferably grip it by hand. 2/ The preferred method would be to insert an air-line nozzle into the oil port and gently 'blow' the piston out. It won't come out like a cannonball but care will be needed if its to be reused.

The pivot point bracket for the vertical lever is certainly bent (see photo of my 165). My guess is that whoever dissembled the linkage last forgot to fit the vertical lever and bent the bracket to be able to fit it and didn't straighten it.

The second short stud appears to be bent as well.
When you replace these you MUST use genuine MF studs. They are 9/16unf. You may have trouble obtaining them anywhere else. The reason for this is that they are precision studs fitted into the lift cover holes which have less clearance than a normal production component. The studs are in effect dowels as well. Care will be needed when refitting the cylinder to ensure that it enters exactly square. Tighten the nuts to 120 lb.ft.
DavidP, South Wales