Front shock replacement, how can I get the top bolt to even begin to thread onto the shock?

Hi,

Do you have the wheel off the ground? If you do, if you take a floor jack under the lower control arm and compress the coil spring, the shock should lift into place.

Also, I found something that may be of interest. The directions are for replacing the control arm, but there is a section explaining how to remove the shock. It indicated the shield behind the brake rotor needs to be removed. Take a look at pic 1 below.

If possible, take a couple of pics and upload them for me to see what you are dealing with.

Let me know.

Joe

See pic below.