The extension cylinder needs a new seal. Anyone know how easy / hard it is to get at the cylinder? I'm pretty sure it can't be changed without removing the cylinder from inside the boom. There is a hole in the side of the boom for viewing the seals and hose connections, but it's not large enough to work through.
base section remains on crane, pull remaining cartridge w/3 sections, then further disassemble to separate cable crowd etc. seeing as you have to go this far should inspect crowd cables, internal sheave bearings, and all wear pads. repacking the cylinder is the easy part, getting to it is a chore.
Your not kidding that changing the packing and seals is the easy part, getting it all appart is the tricky part not to mention getting it all lined up to put back together . You also have to remeber that say a 18ft cylinder will be 36ft long when taken appart so make shure you have enough space to work just my 2cents pj