that is a normal condition.
all a strut does is dampen the up and down movement of the front suspension when going over bumps in the road, it does not do any supporting or holding up of the front or rear end of the car , that is what the springs are for.
Just for fun, unpack one of the struts, grab a hold the ram ( the rod as you called it) and give it a quick and sudden pull, you will find that it does not extend very fast all all.
I just purchased a pair of OEM front struts for '91 Maxima SE from a
> Nissan dealer. The markings on them are 54302-96E10 and 54303-99E00.
> When I unpacked the struts I noticed that it doesn't take much force
> to compress them. In fact, I can compress the rods with my fingers,
> although one of them is tighter than the other. Is this normal? I
> remember installing aftermarket struts on other cars and I couldn't
> compress them that easily.
> Any help will be appreciated as I have only a few days to return these > parts. >