I want to add a little height to my truck and have read a few threads about adding stronger shackles to the rear and cranking the torsion bars in front to even things out. Does everyone who has them buy Calmini or is there something better? Also, is there any other mods/replacements that you guys would recommend while I'm under there? (i.e. what oem parts should be replaced because they're crap?). Thanks for any insight. I'm just getting into off-roading and trying to learn as much as I can from you guys as I can.

I put the Calmini's on mine -- it was easy. After getting a bunch of input from this board, I went with them to keep the stock-ish rake that the truck had before.

Lots of threads on how to do this, but the best tips I got out of them were to drop the spare out of the way first, loosen the exhaust system hangers and use the stock jack to push the spring down so you can fit the new shackle in place.

I din't have any trouble loosening the bolts, but others who have reccomend spraying them with penetrating oil first and letting it sit overnight.

Hope this helps.

Sorry, to clarify, I went with the Calminis, which give about 1.5" lift vs. the SLR models, which can be had in 1" or 2" lifts.

Just did mine on Tuesday. I went w/ the AC shackles. I needed to do quite a bit of soaking to loosen the hardware on my stock shackles. And moving the spare is a great tip that I overlooked until I actually had to do it. I tried loosening the exhaust brakets, but they were too rusted. I just pushed the end of the pipe over enough to slide the old shackle out. Otherwise it was an easy job. Good luck.

Shackles are shackles for the most part. It's such a simple piece of hardware and there's not a lot of discernable difference between brands. Buy from who you feel like supporting.

Thanks for the info guys. I ordered the Calmini shackles today.

...one last thing bugging me. I read a post from a guy who wanted to undo his PML and put his old shackles back on because he wasn't happy with the results. My question is, what's not to like if you have it aligned after the shackle install?

It could be that he cranked his torsion bars too much and didn't leave any space between his bumpstops and his uppercontrol arms. Which would result in a very harsh(bouncy,stiff) ride. Otherwise I don't see how it could have changed the ride that much. There is a post here in the suspension section that says that from the nissan specs for the difference between the bolt where the lower control arm attaches to the bottom of the welded steering stop is ~1.7-1.9in. If you were able to keep it around 2.0-2.125 you should be alright. This is what I did and I must say my ride didn't change any noticable amount. Yes I still do have a slight rake (Xterra nose lower than the rear) but that is how the truck was designed and I am happy with it

Yeah - it seems for themost part that over cranking the t-bars changes the charactor of the lift tremendously...as in its good, and then, after too much crank, its bad.

Like a lot of parties I guess...