Ya that is the race !
as for leaking at the bottom...you might have ripped the o-rings when building them...make sure you use green slime or something else to cover the shafts in when building so the slip threw the o-rings and not rip them...I hope this helps....
I got 5 gallons threw my car and just starting to see a little leaking on 1 shock.I will rebuild them this week and the should be good for some time to come.
I hope you figure out what ot is ...to me this is probably the problem...but I don't know how you built the shocks either.