alpha 1 trim ram issue?

[snoeproe]

I've been doing a lots of work on our new to us 79 sr v207 over the last few weeks.
We had it out for one ride so far this spring and it seemed to run ok.
I have a question about a possible trim ram problem. Today while walking around the back of the boat i grabbed the rear of the out drive and was able to lift it up by hand a few inches. The rams felt mushy to the feel and extended out a couple inches before they stopped. The drive has been stored in the full down position over the last few weeks with the boat on the trailer. I jumped in the boat and trimmed the drive up with the controls, it moved as it should.
Now feeling some concern, I checked the oil level for the trim. It was a little low so I topped it up.
Is this a sign that the seals are bad on one or both of my trim cylinders?

 

[Bt Doctur]

if you have the newer cylinders, just cycling them a few times may clear it up ,if not remove the rear anchor pin and let them hand down, then cycle the cylinders in and out a few times. Always watch the oil level

 

[snoeproe]

The cylinders aren't new though.
I did loosen one hose on one cylinder to turn it so the stainless hose would stop rubbing on the back of the boat. Other then that, I haven't touched anything on the cylinders.

 

[snoeproe]

I removed the rear mount anchor pin, dropped them down and cycled them. It seems better, pretty sure they were taking in air from the oil level being too low in the reservoir. I still have a small amount of movement in the cylinders when i lift the lower unit manually by hand but it is a lot less then what it was before. This raises a question about oil level. My unit has the metal oil reservoir, its not the plastic tank with the high/low level indication on it. Should i be filling it up full to the fill hole? This would still leave room in the tank according to vent hole location.