You are right I made a mistake the rod side will be faster than the piston side.(fixed previous post)
On the pressure side of the piston that affects the extension side of the ram, the piston will have the full surface area and full chamber volume of the of the ram, in the chamber on the side that has the piston on it the area of the piston area is reduced and the chamber volume is reduced. So if the same flow rate and pressure is applied the piston should move faster on one side than the other. I am going to do the math to figure if the rate of travel will be affected or if only the amount of assist from one side to the other will be affected(I am finding this complicated because there are two hydraulic mechanisms in play, ram + steering box). That is where the regulator valve comes in. In theory it should act as an equalizer for the two sides.
I am working with a guy at a hydraulic shop and he is the one who brought the point up when I aproached him for a custom cylinder.
I am still figuring the math out. It is a little outside of my normal realm of employment. Tune-ups don't require math
I should have finished high school, if I only knew that math was actually usefull.