Unhook the supply hose this will break the vacuum. The only Toyotas without a seal on the rod are the reach and order pickers. All others have seals on the rods. If the rod is hanging up in the same spot then you have a dent in the tub. It will need to be replaced. If you have a little more time and sometimes it will cost less, but only if you have a very talented hyd shop who can make you a new tub. Keep in mind is going to need to be a metric size. The newer Toyota's starting with the 7 series has a valve built in the bottom of the rod. This valve moves oil from the top of the piston to the bottom as the rod moves up to provide a cushion while staging. As the rod seal goes bad this valve has a tendency to stick and cause a hyd lock and cause the mast to miss-stage.
There is a snap ring that holds it in place. once you remove the ring. With the snap ring plier's pull the valve out and with some brake clean, clean the valve ***'y and with a round punch push down on the poppit is not stuck. The Toyota seal kit will come with tool to get the piston rod seal past the threads.
how many stages in this mast? 3? or 2?
if 3 then there are 3 cylinders, one in the center and 2 on each side
the center being the freelift cylinder and the 2 on the sides being the main lift cylinders.
as for the type of cylinder that might be in it:
if this is an older model there might be packing on the rod, that can make it difficult to pull the ram out.
But if its a newer model most are fluid displacement cylinders so there is no packing on the rod, its all in the nut on the top. The only reason to remove the rod would be to check the safety valve.
Now if it happens to be older with packing you can put the packing nut back on and then use the hydraulics to push the rod almost to the top, then take the nut off again and wiggle the rod will it comes out.
If its a newer one sometimes they are just hard to pull out if the cylinder is full of fluid. Might need to figure out a way to put a strap on it and lift it with a come-a-long or another forklift.
good luck