Well, I just got off the phone with Calmini and they basically (David from Tech dept) told me that I am basically screwed on my 2 month old Calmini Idler arm that already has slop in it. I was advised to rotate the brass bushings inside the assembly. I requested another assembly and he told me to take it off and send it in for inspection... "its impossible for the idler arm bushings to wear out that fast" he says, He added the original 30 kits are still out on the road and performing flawlessly. I then asked to get another set of bushing and was told that they dont have any and wont have any for another month. anyone have any suggestions on how I can repair this without loosing my daily driver for two weeks while I send in my idler arm for Quote : "an inspection", I know an SAS will fix it but I wouldnt take the chance on a Calmini Kit at this point for sure. This is only the second time I have delt with them and their customer service sux.

Most Likely I am going have to change out my steering kit again with a product where the company stands behind the product... BTW he (David) says the XOC will post anything just to get people to believe it. and that their Idler arm assembly is a high quality design. BULLSHIT!

The idler arm shouldn't be going bad in a couple months. That really sucks. Maybe the nut was too tight. If it's overly tight, that could make your bushings wear a lot faster. I just called them about my 8 month old idler arm and was told to rotate the bushings. I did it a couple weeks ago and it's fine now.

If you do rotate your bushings, make sure that you don't overtighten the assembly when you put it back together. You should tighten it just until the arm is starting to bind and then back it off a tad. Make sure that the arm is tough for you to move it by hand but is not on so tight that the bolt and nut turn with it.

Hope this helps some.

Dude, You need to measure the inner diameter of the bushings and the outer diameter of the steel sleeve. My kit was sloppy from the getgo and it wasnt the bushings, it was the sleeve. Take it apart, measure it with a pair of micrometers, this is the only way as you are measuring to the thousandth of an inch, and reassemble it in such a manner as to reduce play. If you have 2 or 3 thousandths of play between the bushings and sleeve, it will be solid. Mine had, on one end,.014 tolerance, way too much. I explained the situation to Calmini and they sent me a new sleeve that fit perfect.

Funny, we were talking about you last night. Puttin new brakes on GRN-X and Mike was bitching about the slop in his new Calmini SS. I mentioned there was a post from someone who'd mic'd the pieces and found discrepency.

I posted in one of the half dozen threads about this topic :rolleyes: , that MY lower brass bushing, and the center sleeve slid out, like-plop , and the top brass was easily plucked out by finger. Any thoughts on how or what is wearing on the SS in my truck?

I think the tighter everything fits, the better, to a point.I wish I had a lot of pieces to work with to find the best tolerances.Somebody mentioned cutting a grease channel in the bushings, and I think that would be a good idea. The only concern I have is that my sleeve fit so tight, I'm not sure it is getting greased good enough.I'm so paranoid about it that once every week or two, I'm pushing more grease into it.If your bushings are pressed into the arm, your good to go there. If you had 1 or 2 thousandths between the bushings and sleeve, and a grease channel, that might be the best. I'm just guessing though.