Rear shock absorber rubber bushing

[jamesroodney]

I just changed out the coil spring on my 03 Rendezvous and everything went decently but now getting the lower arm of the shock absorber back onto the control arm is causing me some trouble, as the rubber bushing refuses to slide all the way onto the bolt and squishes out through the opening in the lower arm of the shock. Is there a trick to this, like having the car on the ground (as opposed to on the stand). I can get the rubber on the bolt by itself too but then when I try to slide the shock over it it gets hung up again and pushes right to the end of the bolt (and deforms too much to fit into the opening anymore...
Any tips would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[MelsRegal]

assuming the car is on jack stands, have you tried raising the control arm with the jack about a 1/2" or what ever is required to get the lower end of the shock on smoothly. Have you also tried spraying the bolt with wd40 or silicone to get the bushing to slide freely.

 

[jamesroodney]

Thanks for the response, I did try wd40 and I also tried an electricians lubricant for pulling wire. I have the car on stands and did move the lower arm to a few different heights with the jack to try and line up the shock better, because of the gas filled shock I have to start with the arm dropped pretty much all the way to reach the max length of the shock and then jack the two up together for a better alignment. That might be the majority of my problem since there is a downward pressure on both as I try to slide the arm sideways but I cant' picture any other way to do it. I was doing some more searching and found some mention of both freezing and heating bushings to work them on so I will try that today.

 

[MelsRegal]

can you attach the bottom first and then the top?

 

[jamesroodney]

I had left the top attached and just removed the bottom as per the original instructions I found, plus I am hesitant in case the top bushing does the same because it's the more difficult of the two to reach. I tried freezing earlier today and also the heat gun but neither had any effect. It just seems like the rubber has expanded over time, is that possible? I used my ball joint separator to remove it, thought that I could use it in reverse to push it back on but that didn't work... I will try attaching it when it's not on stands next.