Surprised how different Bilsteins are to install

My experience was to not cut the strap until I had one end of the shock in it's mount and then pointed the other end of the shock towards the other mount, then I cut the strap and as the shock expanded, I guided the shock into the other mount. Then installed the nuts and/or bolts and the job was done. yes the shocks are real hard to compress, that's why I had the shock in one mount before cutting the strap. Worked for me.