Project TRICKER-KICKER
Calmini’s 6" Combo Lift
Kit, There’s More Then Just Clearance To Gain.
-Junior |
RENTON, WA. —I’m
certain Suzuki had no idea they’d be creating an American phenomenon when they
designed and manufactured the Suzuki Samurai, and now the same can be said for the
Sidekick. Does the madness ever end? "Hopefully not" says Steve Kramer at
Calmini Products. "Not just because business is good", reports Kramer,
"because we’re having an absolute blast discovering new ways to modify these
little trucks". Next you’re going to tell us you have a lift for the Grand
Vitara and XL-7… I had to ask. "You betcha", he responds.
Lifting a Sidekick differs tremendously from
it’s younger brother in the Samurai, and it introduces a whole new set of geometrical
challenges. The most obvious difference is the independent front suspension and constant
velocity axle shaft system. Calmini has accepted market demands to develop an off-road
suspension system meanwhile retaining street ability and reliability of a stock unit.
Click here to View the New Magellan GPS 330M |
We began
with the usual blocking of the tires and disconnecting the battery cables. Then it’s
a second visit of the installation instructions and confirmation of the parts to the parts
list provided by Calmini. |
 
|
 Then we removed the
grille and headlamps. Note the body mounts bolt hidden beneath the headlamp |
Next, we removed the front and rear bumpers. This is as
easy as four to six small bolts each. If you intend to run only the body lift, retain the
bumpers as Calmini provides mounting hardware and relocating brackets for the front. The
rear bumper just simply reattaches to the original location. Unfortunately there just
isn’t anything that can be done about the gap between the stock rear bumper and the
body. Obviously it’s better to run the entire 6" kit and after market bumpers. |
Now it’s time to remove all the nuts from the
body mounts. Before you start jacking the vehicle up be sure to check a few things. Like
brake lines, wires, and vacuum lines etc.
air intake |
Here we note a few items; Like
disconnecting the air intake from the air/fuel injection housing as shown here. And
here we had to free up the driver side brake line as well as the two brake lines inside
the frame on the passenger side. Also, and don’t forget this step, disconnect the
heater core hoses. Lengthening will not be required of any of these items; they just
can’t take the height need to install the body lift. Simply reconnect each once the
body lift is on. There is one exception here, and that’s the driver’s side brake
line. Relocation of this brake line is required. We drilled another pass-through hole as
shown. |
brake line |
brake line
relocation. |
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