Lowering A 2007 Chevy Colorado - Attitude Adjustment

1a. We With the truck safely on the lift, we removed the front tires. We unbolted and removed the brake caliper (15mm), the tie rod (21mm) (1a & 1b)

1c. the sway-bar end links connected to the lower control arm...

1d. and the wheel sensor wires.

2a. With a 21mm socket and impact, we loosened up the bottom of the strut.

2b. Three 15mm nuts need to be removed to release the strut from the top mount.

2c. One is accessible from the wheelwell; the other two you have to get from the inside of the engine compartment. Once these nuts are removed, the strut is free to come out.

3a. On the lower control arm (LCA), we loosened the four bolts that secure the ball joint, but we didn't remove them.

3b. next, we used a 21mm socket to loosen the nut on the ball joint and then removed the ball joint from the LCA.

3c. With a large hammer, Semon hit the side of the spindle two or three times until it released itself and removed it from the spindle. With the lower ball joint removed from the LCA, it will be easier to remove the upper ball joint following the same process we did for the lower.

4. In order to install the new lower ball joint, the sway-bar connector arm tab needs to be removed (arrow). This tab is welded onto the stock lower control arm and can be easily removed using a Sawzall with a metal-cutting blade. We removed the tab, cutting it flush with the top of the lower control arm. Once removed, a grinder was used to smooth the area. We wiped down the area with a cleaning solvent and spray-painted the surface black.

5a. The lower ball joint will locate atop the LCA. The bottom lower ball-joint spacer is sandwiched between the cavity of the LCA. This spacer supports the LCA from collapsing when tightening the lower ball joint to the LCA.

5b. We installed the provided mounting hardware and secured the ball joint to the LCA.

6. The upper control-arm (UCA) spacer top sits between the upper ball joint and the top of the upper control arm. The UCA spacer bottom is located on the underside of the UCA. Once again, we used the provided mounting hardware and tightened all four bolts to secure the upper ball joint to the UCA. Finally, we reinstalled the spindle assembly.

7. In order to bolt the Belltech coilover into the truck, we needed to remove the hat, the top plate that secures the coil on the factory strut, and install it on the new unit. To keep from killing ourselves, we used a spring compressor to do this. Then we installed the hat on the new coilover and tightened the supplied locknut.

8a. We installed the coilover into the truck and used the factory hardware to secure it.

8b. Then we reconnected the tie-rod end, made sure everything was tight, installed new cotter pins on all castle nuts, and reinstalled the brake caliper and reconnected the wheel sensor.