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Anything at all you could share on how to remove it? Or maybe a picture or two? Seems that every time that I do something like that - pictures of the process get overlooked...
Now that I know how to do it, after a fair amount of experimentation, it's quite easy.
Basically, remove the spiral snap ring at the top and drive the rod out of the plate. Next I'd remove the hose from the bottom, which is relatively easily accessible at any time during the procedure.
Next I made a simple eye bolt setup to lift the mast, from the same point that the cylinder would be pushing it up. Then the section where the forks are attached was chained so it couldn't go down when lowering the mast again.
This took a few tries to get right, but left the lower 2/3 of collapsed the cylinder visible from the front. No hoses were stretched or kinked, like I was afraid would happen, and a jack stand was placed under the cast section that supports the cylinder. Which sits loose in that pocket, by the way.
At first the plan was to slide the cylinder out on a pallet fork, or onto a loader bucket, but decided to try with a lasso strap (a typical tie down for car transport) instead, slightly lifting the cylinder that way. Working alone that turned out to be a smart move.
Now the cylinder could be tilted enough to sneak it out, and moved away.
It probably weighs 100 to 150 lbs., so with a bad back and knees, having machinery to do the lifting was very helpful. And a must for raising the mast.