It's never easy. So in replacing my front wheel bearing I'm ending up replacing half my front end. Anyway found my left front strut mount had disintegrated into a bunch of pieces and had to be replaced. New strut mount matches up exactly to old one but the spring does not sit properly on the plastic seat of the mount. The spring opening seems to be slightly too small and when the tension is released on the spring the strut is badly angled. I was thinking when I release the spring pressure it would force it into the seat and pop in. Instead with only the end part of the spring seated the spring pressure angles the strut in the spring. I've seen numerous videos and all show you just simply place the mount on top and release the spring. Nothing special. What am I missing? I've spent all day taking it apart and putting it back together again trying different methods with no luck. The only thing I can think of doing at the point is trimming the plastic seat making it small enough for the spring to seat but I'd like to avoid doing stuff like that.
In a related question in taking the strut apart so many times I lost the bushing that goes between the strut and nut. How important is it? I've seen videos where its not installed and others that say don't forget it.
Any suggestions/input would be appreciated.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BeZ1flDFJZ0