Come on Rick, you know what I'm talking about. A couple hundred pounds of compression I'm assuming that the op is concerned about for a few minutes while checking the oil. A day long repair or service job would prompt anyone to take the 5 minutes to drop the loader completely.
I was being extreme with the 2x4 comments and possibly the op has a very leaky valve with rotten hoses in which case I'd make these repair repairs first.
Maybe it's just that I'm around loaders (big construction) where just the buckets are 5-6k pounds and this concern is more realistic.
I agree that steel is the proper method