72 and a stuffing box 74 stopper 42 is removed from cylinder 30 and piston 32 is positioned at its upmost position abutting upper plug 40 in this position the bottom end 35 of connecting rod 34 is located above stuffing box 74 the bottom end 35 of connecting rod 34 is connected to the conventional polished rod 76 of the sucker rod pump unlike a typical pump jack which uses a carrier bar or other connector to connect to the polished rod that is larger than the outer diameter of the polished rod according to a preferred embodiment connecting rod 34 has the same outer diameter as polished rod 76 and it connects to polished rod 76 using a connection that is the same size or smaller than the polished rod outer diameter because of this feature as shown in fig6 polished rod 76 can be lowered by connecting rod through stuffing box 74 so as to completely clear the stuffing box packing and connecting rod 34 which also has a polished surface is used to create the well seal with stuffing box 74 fig6 shows linear lift system 10 configured for normal pumping operation with the sucker rod pump at the top of its stroke stopper 42 is installed in upper plug 40 as described above with respect to fig2 the longitudinal length of stopper 42 is selected so that when piston 32 abuts the bottom end of stopper 42 the sucker rod plunger is at the top of its allowed travel at this position connecting rod 34 takes on the traditional sealing function of polished rod 76 and polished rod 76 located entirely below stuffing box 74 functions as an ordinary.