Since the Op has solved his problems, I want to comment on a few things you said.
"Put the wedge about half way and shut it off. Then take a jack and see if you can make the ram move with the hand valve in nutral."
Not going to work as a test. If your valve is 100% sealed, you wont be able to jack the cyl in, even if you removed the shaft seals completely. In order for the shaft to be forced into the cyl, there has to be someway for the oil volume that is equal to the shaft volume to be expelled from the cyl. If oil cant leave the cyl then the cyl cant be retracted, with a jack or other wise. If the cyl does manage to retract using the jack method, the problem is with the control valve and not with the cyl.
"Most of the equipment I'm used to were where gravity will let you know if one is bleeding down. If it a small leak it may move very slowly and you have to force it to move. It's not going to move without some weight on it."
See above reply, the same conditions apply as using a jack to force the cyl in. Again, problem is most likely a valve problem and not a cyl problem. It could also be a leaking fitting, pin hole in hose, not properly seating relief valve, etc. Point is, the cyl cannot retract unless there is a path for the oil that is being displaced by the rod, to escape. This would apply even if you remove the shaft seals completely.
Sorry to disagree but I ran a Big John tree spade for 30+ years. I know for a fact that when the internal seals in the cylinder go bad, it can and will bleed down because of weight and gravity. It's not bleeding through the valve because replacing the cylinder or fixing the existing cylinder will fix the problem.
Been there done that many times. I personalty removed and or replaced many cylinders on many tree spades, back ho's, loaders, dump trucks, and I have seen many cylinders internal seals go bad.
Take the main lift cylinder from a tree spade for example. It's a push pull set up, meaning it has power in both directions (up or down)
If I lift a load and stop and put the valve in neutral. It should stay in that spot till I move it. If the seals start going bad it will bleed down instead of staying put. It bleeds down because there is a lot of weight pushing on it, causing the fluid to bleed past the internal seals. Replacing the lift cylinder fixes the problem. That tells me the leak was in the cylinder, not the hand valve.
Same goes with all of them. from the outrigger cylinders to the blade cylinders, gate cylinders, pad cylinders, tilt cylinders. They all work the same way.
Some cylinders like some on a fork lift are push only, meaning it only has power in one direction. Witch would push up only, gravity is used to pull the forks back down. Many tractors lift's are push only, meaning they only push up with no downward pushing power.
Wood splitters are push pull types but because there is no down force or weight to to force it in one direction or the other, you can't use gravity to let you know if one is bleeding through the internal seals.
So using a jack will help determine if the cylinder has internal leaks. It could very well be the hand valve, but 99% of the time it's in the cylinder.