Well you are pretty much there. You'll want to remove the piston rod from the lift fork. It should be a cotter pin and shaft, and it should still be loose. You can then get something in there to drive the piston back forward in the bore. You should take off the cylinder head (the part behind the drop speed knob) this will allow you to get a hone in there to clean it up a bit once the piston is out.
When you drive that out you will need a pretty big hammer (5 pounds probably-that claw hammer in the picture isn't likely to do it) and a large brass punch. Just make sure you use the brass punch. I'll freely admit that I was hesitant to whack on that sucker, I showed it to a guy at a local tractor repair place in about 3 smacks with the hammer he freed it...No charge...So be assertive with it
For a hone I just used a regular 3 stone cylinder hone any auto parts house should have one. Don't go crazy on honing you just want to remove any crud, not resize the bore too much. Get a new o-ring and you are golden.
Unrelated...those weights you have on the back axle are pretty interesting.
Skylark, thank you for all your guidance. I was able to get the hydraulics working again! I tried using a bad punch and a 5lb hammer. I bent the neck out of that brass punch. I decided to use my rose bud (propane flame thrower) to warm the cylinder and the cylinder head. Not to cherry red but hot enough to brake the hold of the rust. I finally freed the cylinder head and removed it from the cylinder. Where the head was locked in place, the cylinder was rusted rusted 360 degrees. I used a 3 stone hone as suggested. First medium grit then fine. When I was finished it looked and felt almost new. I looked at the o ring and to my suprise it was in great shape. I cleaned out the reservoir and used high temp silicone as the sealant. I finger tightened all the bolts and waited about 3 hours and then torqued to specification. I couldn't reuse the washers on the banjo bolt so I replaced them with copper washers. I filled with fresh fluid and tested the system. Works like a brand new tractor. Not a single leak anywhere! Holds weight and lowers smooth as could be! As for the weighted rear wheels, thanks for noticing. They were on there when I got the tractor. Can't wait to get some work done now. Thanks again to everyone who helped out.
