Strut nut came off

[Meximus]

The stut nut seems to have come off of my front, driver's side strut. It is a 92 Legacy Stationwagon. I tried to get a strut compressor up in there, but there isn't enough room to compress the coil with it in the vehicle. I am leering about jacking it up because I am not sure if the coil will damage anything due to over-travel. Normally, the strut would limit that, but since it's no longer connected to the chassis, I do not know what the limit would be on coil expansion. Any advice on this situation would be greatly appreciated.

[GTEASER]

I am assuming the nut came off the shock rod in the center of the tophat. You probably won't damage anything by just jacking it up (slowly) and letting it fall apart. Don't lose any parts, the bearing, washer and upper spring perch may fall out. Then just remove the strut, compress the spring and put it all back together, and reinstall the assembly. Don't forget an alignment unless you are certain you get the camber bolt back in in exactly the same position as it was.