On some of our real large hyd cylinders.. 3" bores.. etc.. they are soe expensive , and take so long to remove, we've had good luck cleaning them and brazing them, then polishing them. I guess solder would work good too.
Make the groove smooth if it has any high edges.. fill and polish as sooth as you can without deforming any sourounding surfaces... Try to do this away from the seals and packing.
Might get you a few more horse out of it.. or at least quell the leaking to something you can live with..
I would think re-rodding a small cylinder wouldn't be worth it unless you got cheap labor... I figure a small cylinder.. like a steering cylinder might be close in price to buy new rather than replace rod and repack with new seals.. etc. but who knows.. worth price checking at least... phone call is cheap/free.
one thing though.. bent rods are a no-no.. we don't even try to save them... they never do straighten out perfect..
Soundguy