[gerard]

Are you welding on the top of the rod that can extend all the way out or on the fat end that the rod slides in to?? I had an extenda hoe backhoe and the eyelet busted. I had a pro welder come out and he just had me extend the cylinder as far as it would go, then he wrapped a wet rag around the exposed cylinder and started welding away. He had me pour water over the rag as it would dry and that was enough to keep the shaft from heating up too much and frying the seals. If welding the other end, I would still do the same thing to keep from overheating the oil inside. You can also do it in small increments, letting things cool down in between though if you use that technique I'd tack the weld on all four sides first, then do a 90 deg area, then the opposite side, then fill in the last two 90 deg portions.