strut rods

I just got my 78 6 weeks ago. ordered new strut rods (adjustable poly # X2464 corvette America) and spring attach bushings in urethane also. The original rubbers were pretty toasted and looked to have serious strain on them is why I chose to change them. I live in Canada so rusty and seized lower shock mounts so I cut rod end apart and got everything removed. attempting to install new rod and cant get it in, I have top bolt in loose and cant force the lower forward enough to get in between the ears. this doesn't seem right to me. The spring attach bolts look to be on a wicked angle also. am I missing something? thanks 

Boy its been so long since I replaced mine, I'm not sure i remember what I did, but I think that I connected lower end first and then jacked up on diffy till they fell into place.  Could be wrong about this, I'm sure one of the greats will chime in soon. I do know that I did not have a problem putting them back together, maybe I just got lucky

You'll need to jack the trailing arms UP to get the rod end aligned, and the lower shock mount thru the spindle support. also, if you haven't noticed, the lower shock mount has a flat on it that must be aligned with the flat spot in the hole on the spindle support..
hth

Since you are abandoning the poly bushings, I have to say that on other sites, I've been told that the one place you don't want poly is the strut rods as it doesn't allow any twist in the rod as the suspension  goes up and down.  Rubber or heim joints are the recommended way to go.(They say).

yep I knew I didn't have it quite right, Jacked on trailing arms , man getting old sure has its down side

I understand and was jacking the trailing arms to compress the suspension. I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with the heims so I can bolt it up and not worry about the sideways force on the components. I can see why others have had issues with the poly rod ends. I should have done more research before buying.