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spacers on calmini lift?

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Offline Jookycola

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spacers on calmini lift?
« on: July 27, 2005, 10:30:54 PM »
Is it possible to put a 1 inch coil spring spacer on the 2 inch lift to achive a total of 3 inches?  sounds silly but i like my ride comfort and never plan to add on heavier bumpers and winches so i don't need the rougher riding 3 inch kit.  Basically i just want to know if it's possible.
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Offline Zukipilot

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Re: spacers on calmini lift?
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2005, 03:40:07 AM »
It is possible, BUT, there are a few things you will need to watch/address. The extra lift on the Kit will push your suspension up in it's riding stance, reducing down travel and make it that much closer to maxed out on down travel. This can/will do a few things.
1- The rear suspension will be close to maxing out the travel of the center links 'ball joint' that attaches to the 3rd memberd housing, under constant strain of bottoming out these can break and that would not be a good thing driving at speed. You may have to add a spacer to adjust the mount on the rear.
2- Your struts will be closer to maxed out in the front, giving you more up travel but little down travel (may cause odd handling) (possible fix- OME struts leaving the upper mount flipped :-\)
3- If it pushes it up enough so your suspension maxes out during daily driving it will be as rough or rougher than the 3" Kit.
4- What ever you do 'Custom Lifting' your Kick make sure you do not over extend the CV's or put them in to hard of an operating angle. It will cause you way more headaches that a stiffer riding suspension.
5- The spacers may push the front end up enough to warrant the need for camber adjustment.

HTH,
Zig
Zukipilot
'92 Liberty Overland Sidekick

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Offline Speedracer7c

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Re: spacers on calmini lift?
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2005, 03:05:32 PM »
I have longer coils in the front and the suspension runs topped out all the time with the strut mount flipped. I wouldn't reccomend it Unless you put longer struts in and modify your diff drop brackets.
93 sammy 5 inch calmini lift 31" ltbs locked rear

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Offline mbmarkyb

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Re: spacers on calmini lift?
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2005, 12:41:33 AM »
zig are you referring to 1" strut spacer over the 1" coil spacer mentioned?

If your not adding heavey bumpers I would leave where it is as if the suspension is sat in teh middle thats what you need,

I added 1 inch spacers to my 3 inch as the springs sagged a lot,  this just caused them to close right up on flex which isnt the best plan,  i am righting that at the moment as the weight of my zuk was way over on the spring rates
Markyb (UK)
UK Vitara JLX SE

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Offline Zukipilot

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Re: spacers on calmini lift?
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2005, 04:18:11 AM »
zig are you referring to 1" strut spacer over the 1" coil spacer mentioned?

If the longer OMS strut was used you probably would not need a strut spacer when installing a spring spacer, BUT, if you are using a stock length strut, a spacer would work.

(Dont forget to watch those CV angles though)

Zig
Zukipilot
'92 Liberty Overland Sidekick

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Offline Digger

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Re: spacers on calmini lift?
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2005, 12:20:11 PM »
Is it possible to put a 1 inch coil spring spacer on the 2 inch lift to achive a total of 3 inches?  sounds silly but i like my ride comfort and never plan to add on heavier bumpers and winches so i don't need the rougher riding 3 inch kit.  Basically i just want to know if it's possible.

Adding a 1" spacer on top of the 2" kit should work in theory. The 2" kit does lower the front diff about an inch, so adding another inch would only have roughly 2" of more angle on the cv's which I'm running more than now. The 2" kit also uses the stock front springs I beleive, so you wouldn't have to deal with the springs being taller than advertised until they settle. The 2" kit I think also uses a strut mount flip, so you would probably need 1" strut spacers as well as a flip to fit the coil spacers. Or just get OME struts and a mount flip... should work...

I have Calmini 2" rear coils on the Goblin as well as longer shocks. Looking at the rear diff pivot, I wouldn't want to go much higher in the rear without adding a spacer in there as well to get the center upper Y bar back to a more normal operating range...
Had a cool sig pic till I changed the text... sigh...
90 Tracker: "Silver", 2" BL, 1-1/2" Coil Spacers, Strut mount flip, Calmini Header, Winch, 31" Swamper radials, Sold.
98 Suzuki X-90: Calmini 2" Sus, 1-1/4" whl spcrs, 2" Exhaust, Cobra Safari Bar, Neon, Sold.
96 Suzuki X-90: Mostly stock daily driver(for now)

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Offline Jookycola

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Re: spacers on calmini lift?
« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2005, 08:38:53 PM »
^^^^see now this was EXACTLY what i was thinking.  with the dropped a-arms really it's keeping the joints at a close to stock angle.  So the coil spacers would only do as much damage as they would on a stock suspension....i would guess.  see my car is mostly a daily driver so it wouldn't see too much extreme angles anyhow.
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Offline Digger

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Re: spacers on calmini lift?
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2005, 10:45:52 PM »
Depending on what tire size you are going to run, you might need to trim the front edge of the rear wheel wells... it might start to get kinda close on 33's & up... That's probably why the 3" kit includes longer control arms to push the back axle further back...
Had a cool sig pic till I changed the text... sigh...
90 Tracker: "Silver", 2" BL, 1-1/2" Coil Spacers, Strut mount flip, Calmini Header, Winch, 31" Swamper radials, Sold.
98 Suzuki X-90: Calmini 2" Sus, 1-1/4" whl spcrs, 2" Exhaust, Cobra Safari Bar, Neon, Sold.
96 Suzuki X-90: Mostly stock daily driver(for now)

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Offline Uncivilized

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Re: spacers on calmini lift?
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2005, 03:57:40 PM »
If you check out the technical archive there is a front spring spacer install from Wheelers Offroad, It looks like the victim has a calmini lift...
http://www.zukiworld.com/month_050103/feature_wheelers_spacers.htm

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Offline Rhinoman

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Re: spacers on calmini lift?
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2005, 04:53:41 PM »
Depending on what tire size you are going to run, you might need to trim the front edge of the rear wheel wells... it might start to get kinda close on 33's & up... That's probably why the 3" kit includes longer control arms to push the back axle further back...

I run 33x9.5s, I have a 3" bodylift and I just get a little rubbing at full articulation. I have retained the stock control arms because the Calmini arms would mean cutting the rear bumper mounts off to gain clearance. I don't think you'll have a problem with CVs at the front, I ran a 2" lift with no diff droop for some time, your angles will be similar. You should try and get some strut spacers made to restore wheel drop, it makes a big difference.
2000 Vitara 1.6, 3+3 Lift, 33"MTs, 5:83s, LWB brakes, Winch, Snorkel, Safari Rack
1986 SJ413K PickUp, 1.6L conversion.

OBD1 - Full diagnostics on a PC/Laptop: http://www.rhinopower.org

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Offline Jookycola

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Re: spacers on calmini lift?
« Reply #10 on: July 31, 2005, 02:06:22 PM »
If you check out the technical archive there is a front spring spacer install from Wheelers Offroad, It looks like the victim has a calmini lift...
http://www.zukiworld.com/month_050103/feature_wheelers_spacers.htm


Hey hot damn, you're right.  That is a calmini suspension.  that's all i needed to see cool thanks everyone.
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