Front Strut Spring Compression - Stuck !

[lexus400]

I've run into a problem that I've never encountered before on probably a dozen strut jobs I've done.. On the front struts on my '96 ES, I can't compress the spring far enough to get the strut mount "keyed" correctly and get the nut on. I have a hydraulic (hand) compressor and the traditional bolt type and I just can't seem to make it work. Anyone else run into this before ? I was able to do the rears w/o a problem. I've tried several combination of different coils on the spring but no luck. Any ideas ? If my threaded compressor was about 3 or 4" longer it would probably work....

thanks,

Bob