an apparatus for extruding plastic tubing includes a machine stand ; an extrusion cylinder supported by the machine stand ; a housing supported on the machine stand ; a hollow extrusion piston introducible into and withdrawable from the extrusion cylinder ; an extrusion drive accommodated in the housing and connected to the extrusion piston for advancing the extrusion piston into and for withdrawing the extrusion piston from the extrusion cycliner ; an mandrel pulling rod mounted in , and axially displaceable relative to , the hollow extrusion piston ; a mandrel affixed to the mandrel pulling rod and moving as a unit with the mandrel pulling rod for introduction into and withdrawal from the extrusion cylinder ; and a mandrel actuating drive circumferentially surrounded by a sleeve - shaped component of the extrusion drive in the housing and connected to the mandrel pulling rod for axially displacing the mandrel pulling rod .