I was not able to access the picks. I would be curious to know if the same issue exists if you tried to put back one of the old socks.

If you can't (safely) shift enough weight to compress the spring enough to get the shock installed (this assumes you don't have too many rubber bumpers holding things up) then you need to use a spring compressor to very carefully collapse the spring just enough to get the shock installed.

Don't compress the spring any more then is needed.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel