Damper rod refitting?

[Grant66]

I'm halfway through the emulator fitting. Everything has gone smoothly. Had to take the forks off to get the damper bolts out.

Internals came out no problem, no sign of the damper rod seat! Haynes says they should be white, plastic with a spring in them. Worked ok without these bits in before, are they necessary? Edit: found it. Looks to be stuck in the bottom of the fork tube.

Main problem is the reassembly. All the guides say just drop damper rod in and tighten. When I do that, I then can't extend the fork tube. Won't move easily, haven't tried giving it too much force yet.
Is this normal to be a bit stiff?

Edit 2: sorted. Tightened damper then tapped with boom handle. We now have full fork movement.

I had EXACTLY the same problem. Mine is a 2002 curvy

What i did was.

Put the damper rod spring and spacer in the fork.

Turn her upside down. Using the spacer and spring to hold the damper rod I got a few turns on the damper rod bolt. (you already have this done)

Next I used a rubber mallet to tap the bottom fork free. While holding the upper stancion of course. I have also heard that you can use a broom handle inside the fork to tap it down.

I think there is a some sort of circlip inside that just needs a small nudge.