Hyster S60 Lift Cylinder Rebuild in Ames, Iowa
If your Hyster S60 is drifting down under load, leaking past the rod seal, or just won’t hold a pallet at height anymore, you’re probably looking at a Hyster S60 lift cylinder rebuild. We’ve torn these apart at our bench off Freel Dr more times than we can count, and the failure pattern is almost always the same — a scored barrel or rod from years of dirt working past a bad wiper seal, followed by the packing giving up entirely.
This isn’t a job you want to guess at. A lift cylinder holding a loaded forklift mast up is not a place to cut corners, and a Hyster S60 lift cylinder rebuild done wrong means a repeat failure — sometimes within weeks. We treat every one of these like it’s holding something heavy over somebody’s foot, because it is.
How We Do a Hyster S60 Lift Cylinder Rebuild
Every Hyster S60 lift cylinder rebuild we run through the shop follows the same basic sequence, whether it’s on our bench or we’ve loaded up the truck to come to you:
- Pull the cylinder off the mast and drain the fluid so we can see what we’re actually dealing with
- Disassemble and inspect the barrel, rod, gland, and piston for scoring, pitting, or chrome flaking
- Hone or replace the barrel if scoring is bad enough that a new seal kit won’t seal against it
- Install a full seal kit — head seal, piston seal, U-seals, and wiper — matched to bore and rod diameter, similar to the HS686-342 head seal and P-AA1062 piston seal setups we stock for cylinders this size
- Reassemble, reinstall on the mast, and bleed the system to get air out of the lines before we test under load
We also check the lock release cable and lock cylinder while we’re in there. On a lot of S60s that cable has stretched or frayed right along with the lift cylinder failing, and it’s a lot cheaper to replace it now than to have somebody call us back in three months because the lock won’t disengage.
Common Symptoms That Mean You Need a Hyster S60 Lift Cylinder Rebuild
Most calls we get for a Hyster S60 lift cylinder rebuild start with one of these:
- Mast drifts down slowly with a load on the forks and the truck sitting still
- Visible hydraulic fluid weeping down the cylinder barrel or pooling under the mast
- Lift feels spongy or jerky, especially near full extension
- Cylinder won’t hold pressure at all — dead lift, no response from the lever
Scoring is the root cause in almost every case we see. Once dirt or grit gets past a worn wiper seal, it grooves the rod or barrel wall, and no amount of new seals will hold pressure against a scored surface. That’s the point where a straight seal kit swap turns into honing the bore or sourcing a new cylinder altogether. We’re upfront about that the moment we see it on the bench — no surprise charges after the fact.
One thing worth knowing before you commit to just fixing one side: it’s genuinely common for the other lift cylinder to blow out shortly after we rebuild the first one. Both cylinders have usually seen the same years of dirt and the same duty cycle, so if one failed, the other is often right behind it. We’ll flag this during the estimate so you’re not blindsided by a second repair a few weeks later.
How Much Does a Hyster S60 Lift Cylinder Rebuild Cost
A straightforward Hyster S60 lift cylinder rebuild — seal kit, rebuild, reinstall, and bleed — typically runs in the range covered in our hydraulic cylinder rebuild cost guide, generally a few hundred dollars in parts and labor depending on bore size and how bad the wear is. If the barrel or rod is scored badly enough that the rebuild won’t hold pressure, plan on an added $300 to $800 to move up to a new or reconditioned cylinder instead — that’s the real number we’ve quoted customers when honing wasn’t enough to save the bore.
If we’re coming to you instead of you hauling the forklift to us, mileage applies — typically calculated on round trip miles from our shop, similar to the 30-40 mile radius jobs we run regularly around Ames. We also handle misc. shop lift-out tasks and single-technician site visits, so if the S60 is down and can’t be moved, that’s not a dealbreaker.
We do this same style of work on other equipment too — if you’re dealing with a cylinder on an excavator instead of a forklift, our excavator cylinder rebuild page covers that, and if you’re outside Ames proper we cover a wider service area detailed on our Iowa hydraulic cylinder rebuild page.
Don’t let a slow-dropping mast turn into a dead forklift. Call us at 515-292-2599 and tell us it’s a Hyster S60 lift cylinder rebuild — we’ll walk you through what we need to see it, whether that’s on our bench or at your dock.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a Hyster S60 lift cylinder rebuild take?
Most take one to two days once the cylinder is in our hands, depending on whether the barrel needs honing or we’re waiting on a seal kit. If scoring means we need a new cylinder instead, add lead time for sourcing it.
Can you rebuild the cylinder without removing the forklift’s mast entirely?
Usually yes — we remove just the cylinder itself rather than tearing down the whole mast assembly, which keeps the job faster and cheaper.
Why did my other lift cylinder fail right after you rebuilt the first one?
Both cylinders usually see identical wear over the years, so it’s common for the second one to give out shortly after the first is fixed. We flag this risk during every estimate.
Do you come to our yard for a Hyster S60 lift cylinder rebuild or do we haul it in?
Either works. We run site visits within about 30-40 miles of Ames with mileage added to the quote, or you can bring the cylinder or truck to our shop on Freel Dr.
What if the rebuild doesn’t hold pressure?
If the bore is too scored to seal even after honing, we’ll tell you before doing more work. At that point you’re looking at a new cylinder, typically adding $300 to $800 depending on size.
Written by Josiah Ragsdale, Ames Hydraulics