Jeez - I hate to disagree with Whit and all... but I've had the same problem and the jackstands were under the frame / subframe...

I've often had to push down real hard on the trailing arm while I lift up real hard on the shock so that the holes align enough to slide in the big shock bolt.

Be sure to remove the pitman arm, it should give you a little more room to push the arm down. Hang the entire rear or disconnect the sway bar or else you'll be fighting against that too!

Alternately/additionally you can wrap a strap around the spring and just cinch it up a little by hand to make it match.

Oh yeah - don't forget the special mechanics words.

HTH

- Robin