As the hydraulic actuator of the hydraulic press,the hydraulic cylinder outputs pressure and speed through reciprocating motion. Therefore,the plunger rod and piston rod should not only have high surface hardness,wear resistance and fatigue limit,but also require the core to have high strength,tough-ness and plasticity. In order to meet the technical performance requirements of plunger rod and piston rod,the outer surface of the plunger rod needs to be quenched. To this end,the conventional induction heating surface quenching process was changed,and the plasma arc surface quenching process was first adopted,and the large-diameter cylinder plunger rod and piston rod were surface quenched on the horizontal lathe,and satisfactory results were obtained.