Taking the hydraulic hoist cylinder in water projects as an example, the maximum axial load of super-long large scale hydraulic cylinder was calculated and analyzed. The effects of the friction between earring and bearing shaft pin and the fit clearance between cylinder and piston rod on the axial bearing capacity were studied. The nonlinear buckling analysis of the hydraulic cylinder was carried out by ANSYS software. The maximum axial load of the prototype is 580 kN and about 6% different from that calculated by theoretical model, which verifies the rationality of the theoretical analysis. The results show that the limit load determined by strength condition is less than the critical load determined by stability condition. The maximum allowable axial load of hydraulic cylinder is determined by the limit load. The axial bearing capacity of hydraulic cylinder increases with the increase of the friction coefficient or the decrease of the fit clearance. When the friction coefficient increases from 0 to 0.3, the maximum allowable axial load increases by about 5%.