New axle installation help

[fruitcakesa]

I got my rear swaybar links today and installed them. I was holding off putting in my new axles till that was done so...
The drivers side axle slid into the diff smoothly and seemed to bottom out with the snapring groove visible. However, it appears that it is not quite visible enough to accept the snapring.
I pulled the axle back and reinserted it but it goes back to the same place. I put a c-clamp over the axle and diff and tried to pull it together, no go. It really seems to be where it wants to go and the groove is just too narrow to accept the snapring. Any help or ideas?