Thanks for all your help everyone!! I dinally got some time to look at the motor and start taking things apart this weekend. At first inspection, before I even got the assist cylinder off, I see my release cable is frayed and shot. I have the cylinder off and a new cable on order. Hopefully my only problem is fhe cable. If not, I will start going down the checklist.
Thanks everyone for all your help. My dad will have to run without the cylinder this trip. But at least a fix is on the horizon.