Oh, by the way, you might find that when everything is removed the arm won't go further down than a certain point. That's because the bushings bind a lot. You should loosen the bolts that join the arm to the car. That allows the bushings to rotate and so does the arm. The bushings otherwise don't rotate, they just bend letting the arm go up and down (I think).

I had my cv at all kinds of crazy angles downward with the knuckle drooping a lot and my coil spring was no where near coming out.   Loose maybe, but not out.

I just want to make it driveable again so the wife will quit bitching about driving the Tracker.

But did you really separate the CV from the knuckle, at least this much?:
http://fotos.miarroba.com/fotos/6/d/6d9a10c6.jpg
With this much I removed the stock spring and replaced them with longer ones...

I just answered in another post, but you don't really need to remove the knucle from the arm, all you need to do is disconnect the rest:
Brake caliper (2 bolts)
ABS sensor cable (1 bolt)
CV You need to take out the hubs and remove the clips. Then you can slide the CV out a little, and when you lower the arm, you can shift the CV inwards as you lower the arm.
Steering link I'm not sure if this is absolutely necessary, but I would recomend it so you don't damage something (specially in the place where it bends, in the boot). A broken steering linkage on the highway would be painfull This is how I did it by combining two methods. One is in the following pic: http://fotos.miarroba.com/fotos/b/3/b39d01a8.jpg I placed the block and hammer so that the link wouldn't move at that end. That is so that the link inside the boot doesn't suffer too much. Then I used the brake tool as a lever between the knuckle and the link to pop off the link from the arm. The other method was placing a nut half way on the thread. Then you get a hammer and hit the bolt mighty hard. And you should end up with the link loose and a useless nut. Watch out, they have a weird thread (I had to go to Suzuki to get a new one).
Stabilizer Again I'm not sure if it is mandatory, but it is very easy to remove.

And I think that was it... Hope it helps

that's what I was thinking

More pics:
http://fotos.miarroba.com/fotos/c/3/c383939a.jpg
http://fotos.miarroba.com/fotos/e/9/e9441756.jpg
http://fotos.miarroba.com/fotos/c/3/c37ac8d6.jpg
http://fotos.miarroba.com/fotos/6/d/6d9a10c6.jpg

i found it impossible to get the lower ball joint separated as well.  to get the coils in i bought an external coil spring compressor and was able to coax them in - but i only had a .75 inch spacer.  i wish these things had a solid front axle - much easier to work on in my opinion.  the lower ball joint wasn't the only thing i had trouble with.

i found it impossible to get the lower ball joint separated as well.  to get the coils in i bought an external coil spring compressor and was able to coax them in - but i only had a .75 inch spacer.  i wish these things had a solid front axle - much easier to work on in my opinion.  the lower ball joint wasn't the only thing i had trouble with.

I think I will use a spring compressor when I do mine, my friend has a harbor frieght one I can use so I'm set. I believe I'll still have to disconnect the strut at least and maybe a couple other things but it will probably be less work overall

Sergi, did you put longer coils in or a spacer?

How'd you manage to get the coils out with the arm still drooping like that in your picture?  Mine was at least that far down and the coil was still firmly against the a-arm.

Maroon, make sure you use the kind of compressors where there's a set of two compressors that you put one on each side, you can't use an internal single compressor.



Yeah, I was looking at it last night after I put the thing back together and the passenger side balljoint boot is screwed up.  Oh well, got some new-to-me arms and boots coming my way.

i found it impossible to get the lower ball joint separated as well.  to get the coils in i bought an external coil spring compressor and was able to coax them in - but i only had a .75 inch spacer.  i wish these things had a solid front axle - much easier to work on in my opinion.  the lower ball joint wasn't the only thing i had trouble with.

You could just unclip the out part of the axle at the hub.

George

Sergi, did you put longer coils in or a spacer?

How'd you manage to get the coils out with the arm still drooping like that in your picture?  Mine was at least that far down and the coil was still firmly against the a-arm.

Maroon, make sure you use the kind of compressors where there's a set of two compressors that you put one on each side, you can't use an internal single compressor.



Yeah, I was looking at it last night after I put the thing back together and the passenger side balljoint boot is screwed up.  Oh well, got some new-to-me arms and boots coming my way.

didn't know they made internal ones. my friend owns some that go on either side and I can use them whenever I want so it's all good. thanks for the pointer anyway. It would suck to have the tool there and have to find a ride to go get a different one when it's taken apart

Well, the front control arms showed up on Wednesday but the driver's side one has a bad balljoint.  I called Pam's up and they apologized and sent me a replacement arm free of charge...the problem is they couldn't do it in time for me to have it this weekend.  Not wanting to have another SNAFU like last time I'm letting it all sit until next weekend.

Maplebar, did you ever pickup that press/c-clamp thingy you said you found for getting the knuckle off of the balljoint?  Get any details on it?  I wouldn't mind trying to find one if I could figure out who makes it.

Maplebar, did you ever pickup that press/c-clamp thingy you said you found for getting the knuckle off of the balljoint?  Get any details on it?  I wouldn't mind trying to find one if I could figure out who makes it.

No I never picked it up, I just looked at it to make sure one existed .  I tried 4-5 stores on the weekend and no one had even seen a puller like the one in the illustration.  I'm not even sure that the one I found is the right size to go around the balljoint, but it was a puller that looked exactly like the illustration.  I found it at a mom and pop tool store that only.  I also thought it was odd that Suzuki did not list it as a special tool, in mine Chevy manual it is listed as a special tool with a part number.  I left the manual in my office, so I can get the part number monday if you are interested.

Could you please?
 
I called the nearest Suzuki dealership (3 hours away now that mine closed  ) and they had no clue about this thing.  They couldn't find anything about it or if it was a special tool or not.  Even the local Chevy dealership had no clue.

Do you know if it's a GM part number?

No problem, I'm pretty sure it was a special tool with a GM part number.  I'll post more info monday.

Here it is the infamous "Ball Joint Remover" in the 02 Chevy Tracker manual it is listed in the front suspension section as:

Tool Number: J 43631
Description: Ball Joint Remover

On a quick search I found a Chevy Avalanche site that said you could order the tool here:
http://www.spxkentmoore.com/