93 struts and springs

[BLUEnoEQ]

I pulled some struts from a 93 and put them on my car. They look identical to the originals that were on my 94. The height looks identical, measured up the same too. The problem is driving it. It feels like there is no give like I'm riding on bump stops. Like the struts are frozen. The car was in the air for awhile and I'm thinking something happened as a result. Is this something that happens?

[jdonnell]

Did you try priming the struts before install? In other words, before spring is installed, manually compress the strut rod downward as far as it will compress then release it and let it extend on its own. Do that 3-4 times? Maybe yours were frozen and they just need some road use to free up? Or, they are unfortunately probably dead.

[BLUEnoEQ]

They were never disassembled. My previous experience with bad struts is they move too much without controlling the bumps

[BLUEnoEQ]

2 Possible solutions I've come up with.

1 steal the struts off my 95
2 take the hood off, place a tire on top of the engine and play jenga with all the heavy stuff I have in the garage, short block, 6 heads maybe some more tires, to get the suspension to bottom out slowly. Thoughts?

[BLUEnoEQ]

Finally had enough of the rough riding. My Ford keychain popped off it's chain while in the ignition. Swapped the original struts back in since my 95 had a broken spring I didn't know about. It's fixed and it drives as it should... but... it's making a rattling noise from the front end over little bumps. Sounds like a loose sway bar, but it isn't. Both struts are making a sound and the RF sway bar link does too but that was there before. Strut mounts? The bound/rebound and ride height are all fine. No weird pulls or dartiness.