Are there any useful methods to treat pitted hydraulic piston shafts?

[CalG]

I've got a couple of snow plows, (one is a Western, the other is a Kubota)
Both are old and have been left out. The shafts are pitted.
Since I have had the attachments, I have applied multipurpose grease to the shafts out of season.
But that doesn't fix what has already been ...

I have dressed the rust spots with a honing stone, thinking to keep the seal lips from tearing up.
I'm not supposing to prevent leakage, I just don't want the seals to come apart.

Anyone with useful treatment measures?

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Rule of thumb when I worked in a machine shop was if your finger nail could detect the pitting (this would be in the thousands range of pitting), then it was deep enough to hone the shaft. Using the finest grit material available, which was usually cardboard. Form it into a semi-circle and start running it back and forth over the pitted area.
Takes a little time but is effective.

If that didn't work we would go to the finest honing paper we had in stock and use a pneumatic belt honing tool while constantly checking for diameter.
The pitted area had to be cleaned afterward.

I get your save the seals motive.
Sometimes we just had to diassemble the rod shaft from the cyclinder and machine it down to get rid of the pitting. Then send it out to get flame sprayed and machined to tolerance so we were assured of no hydraulic oil leaks.
This was in a Fed monitored facility for specialty parts and they were always over bearing and in our business when it came to anything they thought could contaminate the parts we were producing for them.

 

[CalG]

Replacement cylinders for the Kubota blade are $500 a pop.

I'm wondering if I can get new shafts for less money....

Penny wise, pound foolish?

 

[4570Man]

I saw a YouTube video where the guy filled the chips with JB weld and sanded it smooth. I have no idea how long it lasted but the finished results looked good.

 

[CalG]

The thought has crossed my mind...;-)

 

[CalG]

The thought has crossed my mind...;-)

Looking at the hose arrangement for this snow plow angle function, It is evident that there is no hydraulic pressure on the shaft side of either piston. There is a hose to allow "fluid" be it oil or air, to transfer from one powered cylinder to the other. But the "force" is transferred mechanically, not hydraulically.

Hmmmmm

That just might make a "filler" doable!