Is it normal for Rancho's NOT to expand by themselves like conventional shocks do?

Also even on the hardest setting I had no problem pulling or pushing the rods by hand. The stock KYB rear shocks were hard to compress by hand AND expanded bak to full length on there own, whereas the Ranchos can be compressed with ease between my hands and do not expand on their own fresh out the box. Is this normal for Rancho's, I need to know before I install these so that I can return them if necessary. Thanks.

BTW by comparison the Gabriels were about 50% easier to compress by hand than stock where on the number 9 setting the Rancho's are 90% easier to compress and on number 1 98% easier to compress. Conclusion based on old school test, Ranchos are even softer than Gabriels out of the box. If hand comperssion is any true indication of firmness of the shock, I'm old school, so perhaps the conventional press and expand test does not apply to Rancho technology or I got a set of duds. Please advise.