ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Suzuki 4x4 Forum => Topic started by: MEDEL514 on June 22, 2010, 08:39:03 PM
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I have been looking at this lift kit for a while now, and I'll be looking to purchase by 2011 when I return to the states (military overseas). My 1990 Tracker is in pretty good shape, I rebuilt the motor about 30K ago, bored .020 over, decked the block and head, bigger CAM, with a centerforce clutch. I got 31" BFG's with a spring spacer lift, but I need more. I've busted the front wheel liners last time I went off road, and the rear wheels hit the fender when they get fully flexed.
Ive already searched the forums, but I couldn't find any review on this lift kit. Please chime in if you have the kit, and let me know what you think! I wanna hear the good and the bad.
Thanks!
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I guess it's taking awhile for someone to have something "good" to say about CALMINI. I have their kits on 3 of my Trackers and they're OK. The best thing I like are the longer rear links and the front control arms. The front springs suck. I'd check around to see if you could get some control arms used then get OME struts. Go to FOA http://f-o-a.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16&zenid=6b3059168186add028151eda3996126a (http://f-o-a.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16&zenid=6b3059168186add028151eda3996126a) to see if they can set you up with springs. Calmini's drop brackets for the front diff are good too. Thank you for serving our country! I'm a USMC vet.
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I have owned and abused both their 2" and 3" suspension lift and loved them both.. If your looking for a smooth/cushy ride don't even consider it, but if your looking for a good durable trail suspension lift you cant go wrong. You can beat the hell out of these lifts and they keep coming back for more. I do agree with dusty, a set of OME struts will make a huge difference in the ride. They are expensive compared to other struts but well worth the money spent with increased durability and ride quality. I personally had no issues with the front springs, but I ran with a custom built front bumper and winch that added enough extra weight to the front to make them ride good after break in. My rig was a daily driver and trail rig that I literally drove all over the US to trails, rode all week, and then drove her home.
Like I said above.. not comfortable but very dependable and awesome on the trail.
Thanks for your service!!!!!!
Zig
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No doubt it's good stuff, but the shocks, struts and front coils are just run of the mill. I agree with both dusty and Zukipilot, spring for the OME struts and FOA coils.
I'm also a vet, thanks for your service!
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Hi. I have the 3in Calmini on my 4 door,all in all I am very happy with the kit,very tough, not all that stiff,harder than a
stock kick but smoother than a stock sammy,handles like a sports car,and yes its my daily driver,the only mods I did to it
are front OME struts with OME 962 coil springs up front with 2 in spacers to compensate for the added weight of my
Calmini winch bumper and a 8500lb superwinch.For me,the ride is to die for.The reason I replaced the coils was that I
was plegged with severe front coil sagg after a few years of driving it.The quality of the components is very high.
I strongly recomend.
Simon.
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I have been running the 3" kit for a number of years on a variety of Kicks and it works a little better on a lwb in terms of ride. The front arms are good although I have modified mine so that I don't have balljoint bolts hanging down to catch on, the diff drop brackets are good except for the fact that the holes are drilled with imperial instead of metric which allowed some movement on the RHS which eventually led to front diff failure but I have since modified mine to resolve that, the front struts are junk and i have been running Old Man Emu struts which are much better, the front coils need the weight of a winch and bar or they will be too stiff and they do sag over time, the rear coils have failed due to coil bind, the kit needs bumpstop spacers, the heim joint used is cheap junk that doesn't last long so either buy a quality one with seals http://www.spidertrax.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.126/.f (http://www.spidertrax.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.126/.f) or use the standard centre link with a spacer, the bracket on the rear diff had developed cracks, the rear arms are good (they are not longer but they are beefy and do give better clearance) and the powdercoating was junk but I have redone it since. The issues that I have noted have also been experienced by a number of others.
With my mods it is fine but I could just as easily achieve pretty much the same result without the kit for less $$$. In my opinion the kit is close but not quite there.
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Just curious to find out, how do you know if your coils are dead from coil bind?
I have the kit and like it for offroading, it also pushes your front wheel forward a bit in the arch, which is good as where i am I doubt you could get the hagen widening legal for on road.
like everyone said the coils are not that great of a ride. and i never used the front shocks. but with a few minor changes the calmini kit can be made pretty dam good, longer rear shocks,rear axle rotate, strut flip etc.
I just wish i could do the widening and get the toyota cv mod, but that will have to wait till its retired from road use.
but yea interested in knowing how you know if a coil is dead, as mine is a few years old and bound up a fair bit, it sits higher than the front (3door) and stiff? but i thought that was normal
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Just curious to find out, how do you know if your coils are dead from coil bind?
I have the kit and like it for offroading, it also pushes your front wheel forward a bit in the arch, which is good as where i am I doubt you could get the hagen widening legal for on road.
like everyone said the coils are not that great of a ride. and i never used the front shocks. but with a few minor changes the calmini kit can be made pretty dam good, longer rear shocks,rear axle rotate, strut flip etc.
I just wish i could do the widening and get the toyota cv mod, but that will have to wait till its retired from road use.
but yea interested in knowing how you know if a coil is dead, as mine is a few years old and bound up a fair bit, it sits higher than the front (3door) and stiff? but i thought that was normal
What do you mean by "bound up a fair bit"? If you can see a fair bit of coil binding occuring you either have the wrong spring for the application or the spring is dead - too weak to do the job it was designed to do.
Coil binding occurs when two adjacent coils in the spring come into contact with one another as the spring is compressed - it usually leaves a visible mark .
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I have the Calmini 3" kit and its very good. I wouldn't trade it for the OME, the OME is only 1 1/2" of lift.
The rear control arms are the same length as stock but curved to give more clearance, I have the OME struts on the Calmini lift but you need to add 1/2" strut spacers to regain the articulation that the Calmini strut spacers give.
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hey man thanks for serving our country, my experience on the the kit is the front springs are a little stiff with out a heavy bumper. i did like the way ome struts worked with my set up. i wish they would sell all the parts individually. thats where my kick started. now im running 40" pit bull tires!and going bigger. it becomes addicting were ever your rig starts. have fun building it. stan