HELP. '97 Lincoln Strut, can't reassemble, in friend's garage!

I post here because you guys know everything.

I took apart the suspension in the back of the Little Lamb-orghini (which looks striking the same as that found on the front of a '97 Lincoln Continental) in a friend's garage last night to try to learn the root cause of some rather unique handling characteristics the car has. I did learn one thing for sure. I learned I don't know how to put it back together!!! The strut collapses (not expands as with every other strut I've ever seen) when disassembled, and I (and youngfg helping) can't pull the thing out far enough to get the hat on it again. Measuring versus the assembled strut on the other side, it's 2 inches shorter, so I know I'm not at the end of the strut's travel. Is something jammed internal to the strut? Is there a special trick to Lincoln electric struts. Do I have to apply a voltage to it or something? What the berk gives?

youngfg is going to want his garage back soon...

so its a SARC strut? If you cannot pull it all the way out, you might need to apply 12vdc to it. Its been a long time since I messed with those.

This might have been already tried BUT- can you mount it into the LCA/lower attachment point and jack that point up enough to get it to the upper? I have absolutely no idea how the rear end of that thing looks, so I might be off base, but in your situation, that's what i'd try.

In reply to mndsm:

I've got the spring compressed using spring compressors, probably over 50%, more force in the compressor than the weight of the vehicle on that corner, so I don't think I could do better with a jack, unfortunately.

I think the next step tonight will be to take the !@#$% thing apart try to build the strut assembly on a bench then reinstall. If that fails, I will be cobbling us some kind of custom suspension. No sense in buying $300 luxury car shocks for the back of a sub $2012 car.

In reply to sporqster:

basic taurus front struts will fit it......the conti in those years shares several parts with the taurus.

FIXED IT! Answer, by the way, was to remove entire strut, compress the E36M3 out of the spring, apply 12V to the plug thingy at the base of the strut (this makes it softer and easier to manipulate). Put the hat over the end of the strut, and the top part will stick through. Grab this end with some big ol vice grips and pull with all you've got. Grab a couple threads with the nut, and apply impact wrench violence. EASY! Assembly at this point is reverse of disassembly.