I made a set of lift cylinder supports for working on the engine with the loader mast up as well..worked great on and off for the last 20+years..1/4"wall 3"dia steel pipe cut lengthwise with end supports to spread the weight out over the cylinder end surface,it also has a section of 2"channel welded to the back side of the brace for additional strength..these supports just pop in and out, once the weight is on them they can't slip out..ive seen some Cat-made ones with u-bolts that hold them on but thought that was a bit of overkill. The loader has a factory brace on the other side to hold it up which I use additionally to the red shop made supports.Sorry for the photo orientation my photo editor is not updating properly.

[Linked Image from kuhnbros.com]