Been here for a while now, great site, have learned a few things... That said, I'm working on a Ford 555 extendahoe,the pin that holds the extendahoe cylinder in the tube nearest the bucket was removed so I could clean and grease it, the cylinder will not line up to install the pin. So I'm in the process fo removing the tube so I can turn the shaft enough so it will line up again. Are there any tricks to making this project a little easier?
The hard part is behind you. Sometimes you have to press that pin out. Sounds like you didn't have to. You have to index the rod before you put the stick together. You can pin the two halves together up top, raise the stick off the ground and use gravity and the x-stick valve to line up the pin bore. I don't remember any tricks being needed unless you welded on either half and were dealing with distortion. The only trick I remember was during assembly of the inner and outer stick. The outer stick will balance on its own if you leave the bucket in place. You then back towards the outer stick and insert the inner stick into it. Don't be standing anywhere near the outer stick because you can knock it over with the inner if you don't get the insertion angle correct.