Hi, I may've got in over my head with this repair project- I'm hoping you can help me out;
My question is this: if you have the 240 lifted on jacks and then remove the tie rods and front ball joints, will the struts start lowering over time?(ie over a few weeks?)

Here's my situation: Last month I decided to replace the tie rods and front ball joints (my first real project on the car), however while waiting for my new replacement ball joints (I accidentally tore the boot on my initial replacement due to using a miscalibrated torque wrench) I was given a deadline at work that kept me busy for the next week, followed by an unexpected trip to california...So my volvo's been on jacks for a few weeks with the struts just kind of hanging there (ie no ball joint or tie rods attached). Now that I'm trying to put everything back together I'm struggling with re-attaching the new ball joints: it's as if the struts are too low by a couple inches...so the strut plate is almost level with the control arm (I can try to send pictures if it's helpful)

Is this a normal struggle when changing the ball joints?, or is it possible that my struts have actually lowered over the last couple of weeks? (or perhaps normally you apply downward pressure on the control arms to line everything up?)At the moment I'm thinking of trying to place my jack under the struts to get them better arranged relative to the control arm (I thought that maybe the issue is that the strut cartridge has extended too far for me to re-attach the ball joints...?)


I appreciate any help you can offer