Nose Strut O-Ring Was Bad...

Oddly, I thought the new seals would make the struts move more freely.
That was not the case with mine. They still have a healthy amount of
"stick".

Try smearing STP (Moto-Honey to some.....) on the exposed strut. It
helps elastomeric seals break in - even to the point that it will
migrate into the strut interior.

Don't laugh - I have done this on hydraulic actuators to temporarily
reduce the rod friction in a cyclic applications. It was absolutely
amazing what it would do with the effects lasting for maybe an hour or
so. These were actuators that cycled maybe 5 Hz or more. I suspect
the technique may be quite effective in a simple strut application.