I've had the Calmini 3 inch lift for almost a year now. I've adjusted my ride height a few times due to alignment problems. My front end is still lower than I'd like it to be but every alignment shop I've ever been to says the only way then can get it aligned is to lower the front end some. In all the pictures I see of other lifted X's, it seems they are all at the height I would like to be at. What is going wrong on my end?

Secondly, I've noticed that there is a pan-like banging sound that comes out of the front end when I go down washboard dirt roads. It doesn't seem like my shocks are bad but I guess it's possible. Should I be looking for something else?

Thanks.

Well, the guys that are doing your alignments are attempting to set it up to Nissan Specs.

That is fine, for a stock Nissan vehicle.

I set the lifted X's up in a different manner. I wish though, that Calmini would extend their UCA's a bit more, make the alignment a buttload easier!

Anyway, using these settings, it gets easier to align, and to drive.

0º Camber, and whatever your Caster is, have the left side be -0.5º less than the right side. For instance, 1.5º left, 2.0º right side Caster (still with 0º Camber). The Caster specs I just listed are just numbers, not necessarily what you'll have. I've seen X's with a lot of different Caster readings, so it can be all over the place.

Then, set Toe to Nissan spec.

I've aligned several folks' X's on here, with great success. (not bragging)

Ask XOC how he likes his.

I bought my lift and steering yesterday so they aren't installed yet.

So, when we go to the alignment shop, do we flat out tell them not to follow Nissan Specs, to just figure it out b/c it is lifted?

Not to just figure it out, but to set the Camber to 0º, and to adjust the Caster to 0.5º less on the left side (accounts for road crown and the inherent 'Xterra right side pull' that plagues the X) that the right. If they can only go to 0.2º less, then that will do as well.

If they need to knock Camber to perhaps 0.1º, OK, but 0º is preffered.

Toe is set to factory specs.

Set your ride height to what you want, then write it down. As your torsion bars begin to settle, you're going to want to adjust back to that measurement exactly to keep your alignment in order.

I'm sure they're going to give you a little grief (we are a fickle beast, mechanics are) so just tell them that it's what is reccomended by folks who've been aligning these things since they came out.

Thanks for that usefull info...

thanks alot...I'll let them know

Thanks Cyclemut. I'm going to print this out and bring it along when I get the x aligned this week after the lift. Hopefully it will help them out. If worse come to worse I will have to stop in denver when I head back out to LA in August.

Yeah, Thank you very much. Finally some good info.

Any ideas on the sound issue I mentioned? It does not make a peep on regular roads but when driving down this particular washboard road, which I have to drive down every day, it sounds like it is metal hitting metal on every bump. I've checked all nuts and bolts for tightness and all seems ok. Would it seem likely that the crappy shocks that came with the Calmini lift about a year ago are bad already?

It's really hard to tell with noises, because there isn't any one thing that usually happens to make it.

Try to insure that all of the front shield bolts are tight (but not stripped out), the front crossmbember bolts are tight (really tight, 17mm) and that the sway bar links aren't worn or loose.

Sorry, but noises are hard over the internet! Need to have my hands and ears on it.

Stop on by, no problem at all.

I have a 3" suspension lift and just got my alingment done. Firestone said they will align it to Nissan factory specs and after it was done, I noticed there were more creaking sounds, and louder at that. I'm going back this Tuesday to have it aligned according to Cyclemut's specs. Thanks!

Glad I searched for this, after installing the SLR UCA's I had it aligned and mentioned the nasty pull to the right, the guy said " try switching the tires from left to right" then I noticed how toe'd in my tires were, and were sitting on the edge... I'm taking it back with these specs, and hopefully won't get charged again.

Maybe you are missing a bumpstop?

If the washboard road is cycling your suspension through it's full range of motion, and you are missing a bumpstop, them you'd be hitting metal on metal on either end of the scale, compression or full droop.



There are

check the bolts that hold the ball joint to the control arm

not sure about the banging, but the squeeking and groans sound more like you need to grease those UCA bushings.. once I got a grease gun and pressed some lube in there they have been quiet.

about alignment- I have a calmini 3" SL on my x and I can tell you it took about three tbar readjustments before the torsion bars settled completely. Initially, I cranked them down a bit too much, actually.. to the point where the ball joint mounts were pointed down a bit and the UCAs were on their bumpstops. Firestone ran out of alignment quickly and after their best alignment it was pulling to one side noticeably. I drove it, expecting the tbars to come down a bit and within two weeks my steering was ALL over the place and it was pulling like crazy, like all of a sudden. I took a good look at my TBars and one had settled an extra inch over the other one! well, after I leveled them (flat and even ball joint mounts) the damn thing drove great and the alignment was almost perfect!

Since then, I've adjusted them twice.. each time they were settling less and less- the third round of adjustments were only like 1/2 inch on one side and less on the other. These are calmini tbars btw. I ranked on them at long beach a couple weekends ago and they held their height.

maybe this info helps some of you? I just think when adjusting tbars, you should make the ball joint mounts level, this will give you a good 7" or so over 32s in the wheel well..

whitman

Yeah guys I would think that this guy got his banging taken care of at some point in the last 3 years

do these specs go along with just the pml? or only with the 3 inch lifted trucks, not sure. just did my pml yesterday, getting bigger tires and alignment on wednesday i was gonna tell the guys to get it as close to nissan specs as possible and not to mess with torsion bars cause i like the height, still have 1/2 inch or so between the bumpstop and the uca. read that was the right amount of space to leave to get aligned. alright thanks

Just when you do a 3" or do anything with the UCA's.. you'll be fine. Although my X pulled to the right even before the 3"SL so you might want to consider the -.5° to left side if that's the case.

alright thanks. ill get the alignment done and if it still pulls ill go back with those specs.