Here's the Top Link cylinder, in place. I heated and opened up the OEM clip to accomodate the larger diameter of the hyd. cylinder.
The cylinder is also Prince. It came as just a cylinder, with no Cat 1 swivels. I bought a manual Top Link at Tractor Supply and cut the ends to length to weld onto the cylinder. I wanted the weldable end to be round, but the only weldable Cat 1 swivels I could find were on flat steel, to be welded onto a lift arm. I expected the welding to be trouble, but it wasn't. It went pretty smooth. I welded with the rod extended to keep heat as far away from the seals as possible. The rod was wrapped with a dampened cloth. The base of the rod, down by the cylinder never even got warm. Closed length of the OEM Top Link is 18 1/2". I cut the swivels to match that closed length...and the rod will extend 8".
Welding to the base of the cylinder barrel was done with the hydraulic quick disconnects connected. Whenever I paused while welding, I released pressure (built up from the welding heat) by moving the valve lever. Removing the hyraulic line from the cylinder would probably work OK, too. When welding was done, I started the tractor and ran the cylinder rod back and forth several times to circulate the hyd. fluid to help cool the cylinder base.
OkieG