Yes, currently you hav a problem and don't need to drive it.
Most lift springs run short because the manufacturers don't compensate for the arch in the length and cause the shackle to be dead vertical (instead of slightly tilted back).
The bigger the lift and greater the arch, the shorter the uncompressed spring will be. My bet is when weight was put on them they didn't compress causing the shackle to pivot too far forward, locking the spring against the frame.
Try this, get the weight off of the springs again. 2 person job, as one person begins to SLOWLY lower it back down have the other use a prybar or something to prevent the shackle from kicking forward. Once it's got weight on it, the shackle should be almost vertical but slightly back on the bottom.
Now, all that said, this is all assuming you have the correct springs for a square. Before doing any more work I'd double check you're part numbers. Note that 1st gens use front springs that are 2" shorter than 2nd gen squarebodies.