I bought a used Clark C500Y30 off of eBay from a dealer. They claimed it was totally refurbished. When I received the truck, the tilt cylinders were drifting forward quite fast. I called them and they shipped me out two repacked used cylinders. They are exactly the same length/diameter as the originals.

I got to work and pulled one of the old cylinders off. The pistons on the repacked set were not extended out as far as the originals. Changing the first, I used a ratchet strap to adjust the distance. Pulling the mast in towards the truck, I was able to get the piston bracket on the repacked cylinder positioned and attached to the mast. Then I tightened all my hose connections. I proceeded to do the same to the other side.

When I fired up the truck, the forks would not tilt all the way forward. Eyeballing it, there is easily 6 inches of unexposed piston in the cylinder. I tried cracking the hoses and bleeding air out of the lines, but only fluid came out. I also topped off the hydraulic fluid.

It seems like there should be an easy solution. This is the first set of hydraulics I have tinkered with and I probably missed some step. Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks