ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Suzuki 4x4 Forum => Topic started by: Jookycola on October 01, 2007, 01:54:33 PM
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A new player in the Suzuki off-road aftermarket is here. It's ZukiNation and they look to have some cool new toys for the Trackkicks. Namely the Suspension kits.
http://www.zukination.com/suspension.htm (http://www.zukination.com/suspension.htm)
This was breifly touched on in this thread:
http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=18986.0 (http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=18986.0)
And their stuff sounds excellent, i want one of their kits for sure. But the other post touched off something that even I thought was kinda strange that it gives you 4 inches of lift using your stock control arms. And other minor red flags. Anyway it's a brand new kit and company and i think it's something we should all discuss.
There are a lot of Zuki gurus on here that should be able to read the specs of this new 3", 4". and 4.5" kit and it bits and peices. What are concerns we should have that this kit would be reliable or not. I mean many in the other thread seemed to be pretty sure the set up they are using, the front coils are going to bow outwards...or just outright pop out of place during heavy wheeling. Supposedly SiKiD_01 has installed this kit, perhaps he can enlighten us a bit about it now?
Any how i thought it would be good to talk about a new product.
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It would be nice to see some close up pics. Its hard to discuss fab design without something to see.
Mike
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It would be nice to see some close up pics. Its hard to discuss fab design without something to see.
Mike
2x
Talk is cheap, and a picture is worth a thousand words.
Frankly, I'm skeptical. With the history of Suzuki vendors, I should be. How can someone write all that stuff and not add at least 1 pic? Seems phishy.
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I wonder if Rancho is going to have a problem with them borrowing their theme: http://www.gorancho.com/ (http://www.gorancho.com/)? And before anyone says anything, this has been Rancho's advertising campaign for over a year now. Just curious...might not be the only thing copied...
How serious a "player" are they with no pictures, and no other products?
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"over five years of research and development, prototype after prototype, extensive testing sessions lasting 30 - 40 days at a time, in extreme temperatures as low as -30 deg C, that’s what it takes to design an extreme kit."
Five years of testing and no action shots? Pics of their shop, tools etc... They are new, so maybe they just didn't put them on the site yet...
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does anyone out there have pics of this kit either on or off the zuk i just wanna see it.
its hard to know what your getting if all you have is words i want pics
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Follow this link and you will see pics of SEAN22 who purchased this kit.
Regards
Jim
http://www.zookpower.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=8189
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Photobucket Linkage (http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff22/sean222_photo/?action=view¤t=HPIM0263.jpg)
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Follow this link and you will see pics of SEAN22 who purchased this kit.
Regards
Jim
[url]http://www.zookpower.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=8189[/url]
That's good and all but not ground breaking. Where are the pictures of their kit that moves the front wheel forward in the wheel opening to allow bigger tires with out cutting the fenders or a body lift? Let's see what you get for $2300.00!!
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For that much money, it should come with an installer.
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Am I correct in my understanding that this kit is pure lift in the front, and no additional travel / articulation? For that price, I would expect more travel front and rear - as well as spring rate options (for people with heavy or light front bumpers, winch etc)
And... I totally agree on the action shots. Who's spending that king of $$$ without seeing what they're buying first?
Send a kit to your big internet forums for review - it's the BEST way to advertise your product.
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i was down in cowgary on the weekend and took a look at geoffs lift...ITS AWSOME...i have the bds lift and to say the least its like rideing on a wagon...his kit is even smoother than stock.i can tell you there is no bowing of any coils or anything else that looks worrying.i would say he has a winner with this kit..bye bye bds and hello to zukination lift.
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"over five years of research and development, prototype after prototype, extensive testing sessions lasting 30 - 40 days at a time, in extreme temperatures as low as -30 deg C, that’s what it takes to design an extreme kit."
Five years of testing and no action shots? Pics of their shop, tools etc... They are new, so maybe they just didn't put them on the site yet...
...In fairness, how many people on this forum run RRO stuff, and how long have those people w/ Trackicks been promised: bigger lift, heavy-duty skids, pre-runner style tube bumpers, front lockers (a RRO first (that Trail Tough's been selling for a while now))...Let's give 'em a fair shake. Now if the kit for my '99 is still in development a couple years from now, then I'll give them the same hell I just gave RRO.
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"over five years of research and development, prototype after prototype, extensive testing sessions lasting 30 - 40 days at a time, in extreme temperatures as low as -30 deg C, that’s what it takes to design an extreme kit."
Five years of testing and no action shots? Pics of their shop, tools etc... They are new, so maybe they just didn't put them on the site yet...
...In fairness, how many people on this forum run RRO stuff, and how long have those people w/ Trackicks been promised: bigger lift, heavy-duty skids, pre-runner style tube bumpers, front lockers (a RRO first (that Trail Tough's been selling for a while now))...Let's give 'em a fair shake. Now if the kit for my '99 is still in development a couple years from now, then I'll give them the same hell I just gave RRO.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they stepped up to the plate with something... allthough I think 89-98 Trackers/Sidekicks are a tough market to sink into, maybe why RRO are hesitant to go further, or why Calmini didn't market their SAS kit. But 5 years and not one picture to post on their site? Adding pictures on a website is as easy as adding pictures on this forum. How many of us even bothered to read the story book they have there? No pictures, and people will just close the page. Marketing is key, and bunch of long paragraphs are not going to get people excited.
IIRC, the first we heard of the Trail Slayer kit from TT was just a spy photo... ;)
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Am I correct in my understanding that this kit is pure lift in the front, and no additional travel / articulation? For that price, I would expect more travel front and rear - as well as spring rate options (for people with heavy or light front bumpers, winch etc)
The pic shows strut spacers and longer shocks so there will be more articulation.
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Out of fairness to ZukiNation, has anyone asked them to join our group so they can read and respond to this thread?
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I would sure hope that they are well aware of the largest gathering if trackicks on the web. If you type suzuki sidekick lift into a google search Zukiworld is the #3 hit. Im quite sure they are aware of us. That being said I would like them to sign up and contribute to this thread.
Mike
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I talked with the owner of Zuknation last thursday for about 45 min. Nice guy and a big track/kick fan. He was been overwhelmed by the response to his kits. He had only locally advertised it. Couldn't figure out how everyone found out about him. I told him about the kid posting on the forum and the thread went crazy. He wanted to get a few kits done, and his website done before a big ruckus. Any way if you give him a call he will get pics to you. It sounds good and has several of them on rigs and with alot of sucess. He walked me though the whole system and its abilities! His wife is working feverishly to get the site up! We are considering a 4" for my buddies Rakker. I hoping for a good showing! well thats my 2 cents1 ;D
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I talked with the owner of Zuknation last thursday for about 45 min. Nice guy and a big track/kick fan. He was been overwhelmed by the response to his kits. He had only locally advertised it. Couldn't figure out how everyone found out about him. I told him about the kid posting on the forum and the thread went crazy. He wanted to get a few kits done, and his website done before a big ruckus. Any way if you give him a call he will get pics to you. It sounds good and has several of them on rigs and with alot of sucess. He walked me though the whole system and its abilities! His wife is working feverishly to get the site up! We are considering a 4" for my buddies Rakker. I hoping for a good showing! well thats my 2 cents1 ;D
Zuknation, and zukination are two very different things. ;) just to be clear here. ones a aftermarket company, the other is a online community.
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Damn, and I just bought and installed a Calmini 3" lift... ::)
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The kit has been rumored on the GV forum here for at least most of this year. One of the members is supposedly going to be getting the 99+ prototype kit.
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I wonder if Rancho is going to have a problem with them borrowing their theme: [url]http://www.gorancho.com/[/url] ([url]http://www.gorancho.com/[/url])?
No more than Rancho copied goarmy.com
My URL for the company I had was gocontrax.com. The local Albany Zook dealer is www.gokooky.com (Go Kooky for Suzuki slogan)
It's rather common, believe it or not.
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Well I have been following this and related ( to this product )threads for quite some time now and so far I am not really that impressed. It sounds as though the springs may be very well rated to our rigs , the lift "compensation" bracketry is pretty run of the mill and the GV kit has got Calmini written all over it ( minus the front control arms ).
You guys really need to step up to the mark and give us Zukers something to get the blood boiling - PICS PICS PICS .
With such a big lift how do the camber issues get adressed? I remain UNCONVINCED gentlemen / ladies :-\
ZeusZuki 8)
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Hey, Zuki Nation here. We were told about this thread from a customer and thought we'd make a quick response. We apologize for the level of our website, it is a work in progress,dealing with a website is something we've never done before. When we started these lifts it was out of requests from our customers, they wanted to go larger than 2", have a smooth ride, and mostly just have another option to the lift market. Everyone has their own idea of what's best for them, what's expensive and what's not. Addressing some issues we've seen here:
-we've dropped the diff so cv angles are a non issue.
-bow on the coils is negligable, slightly more than stock. Stock a arms are fine through testing and are good up to 4" of lift. Coils will not leave seat even in extreme use.
-camber has been dealt with and the truck can be aligned.
-production costs in Canada are much higher than in US, we've tried to price our kits as competively as possible.
-"GV kit has got Calmini written all over it", we cannot emphasize enough our kits were designed by us, built by us, manufactured by us. When ever more than one entity builds pieces to fit the same place, there will be some inherent similarities, let's face it the part has to fit. We do our own product development here.
Some pics of the kits are up on the website now, more pics will be coming soon. We will be posting some flex shots of the 4" and 4.5" soon. We're pretty busy so computer time isn't much of an option. We would be more than willing to answer any other questions anyone has by email info|removethispart|@zukination.com.
Attached is a pic of 4dr Sidekick w/ 4" lift and 30" tires next to a stocker.
Cheers.
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4" lift equals 2" down travel and 8" up travel? (just a guess)
With stock control arms in their stock mounting position, i see no way you could get a reasonable amount of downtravel, which is what makes suspension really flexy and comfortable. It's not hard to max out the front suspension so that you're riding in your down travel range the whole time.
That Sean dude's photobucket page almost looks like he set it up just to show the photo of the kit, and nothing else, maybe just to promote the kit. He talks like an undercover employee there or something.
Once again, photos of the kit installed, and being used are what everyone wants to see i think.
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I figured that as well, but we still have to give them a chance. If they deliver a quality solution that means we have one more choice out there for Sidekick/Trackers. Hopefully they will get some shots of the lift kits in the wild soon.
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that 4.5in kit is looking nice!! A bit pricy but i'm gonna keep it in mind...i first wanna see how well it flexes...4.5in lift for a tracker that is fully bolt on is pretty bad ass!
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Honestly, quite a few people are poo-pooing the cost. Does it suck that a 3inch kit cost twice what Jeep owners pay for 3inches?
Yes.
But keep in mind we may be a brand loyal bunch but we are very small peice of the off-road aftermarket pie. To make products take trial and error and alot of hours, days, weeks, and months of Research and Development, all that translates to costs going in...and nothing coming back. When the product is done they need to recoup that cost somewhere, and sadly if everyone of us on this board bought this kit they'd still not make a huge amount off of it like they would with a jeep kit. That's why so few companies provide Zuki stuff, we're too small of a market.
I firmly believe Zukiworld members are split down the middle. Half want wicked flex and heavy bumpers and just an all around trail killer. The other half (like me) want a tougher "looking" Zuk. That has decent flex and off-road ability, but have no desire to cut up the fenders, remove bumpers and slam into rocks. We want that lift kit look with smooth as stock ride, because for us our Track Kick is our daily driver and weekend warrior. That said, i don't mind paying for quality. $800 and change is not bad for a kit with a ride that my girl won't bitch about. I spend about 80% of my time "on-road" so i need the truck to have a ride as close to stock as possible so i can live with it day-to-day. But for that 20% where i hit trails and mud bog sessions i want the truck to perform.
I feel Rocky-road and Calmini build kits for a more hardcore group, but their lack of interest to develop more interesting content, and the rapid rate of how many Zuki items are "out of stock" shows me they're probably on thevery tippy-top edge of leaving the Zuki aftermarket. So I welcome anyone that can take time to build our little segment something new. I've decided I'm buying this kit. I'll keep you all very posted on how it is and rides and whatnot.
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Well the 3" Calmini kit won't work properly without the weight of a winch bumper so thats a big expense if you don't have one and don't feel you need one. The RR kit is a properly engineered 1.5" lift which is then fitted with spacers.
I've no idea what it costs to get stuff made in Canada, I do know that over here the Calmini kit costs the dollar amount in pounds so its far from cheap.
I have reservations about this kit but I'll keep an open mind until I see one fitted and in use (or at least the pics). If the ride really is that good then I reckon thats got to be worth a few dollars. I already have the Calmini kit but I'd be interested in a different set of springs if it would improve the ride without making it pitch and roll like a large boat.