I just received a pair of Calmini UCA's to replace my SLR arms (too long, camber was off). I didn't get any instructions and had a couple questions.

1) What torque values should be used to attach the ball joints to the spindle and to the UCA?

2) There are 2 small tubes of what looks like grease. I'm assuming these are to lubricate the bushings, am I wrong?

1. See step #15

2. I didn't get this, but yeah, that's probably what it's for.

Thanks,
I had looked at Calmini's site on the page that was the control arm only. I didn't think to check the full kit page.

I could be wrong but could it possibly be lock tight that needs to be applied to the bolts that hold the balljoint to the A-Arm. If it isnt that then you might want to use some.

I am not sure of the torque specifications for attaching the ball joints to the UCAs, but some people have posted about the bolts coming loose after a few hundred miles. I came up with a solution (thanks to ChuckH's idea) which is working great so far. You can read more about the discussion here .

Edit: Oh yeah, use the grease on the white bushings. You will have to buy some Loctite separately.

I did the swap, now I have camber adjustment range. Here's the differnce in arms

That's really interesting and thanks for the comparison photo. Has anyone else had this problem with the SLR arms?

Yes, I could never get my truck aligned correctly.

I now have the CALMINI lift on my truck, and the alignment was a cinch.

I noticed that SLR gives alignment specs in their instructions for the lift. I don't know if they are different than the Nissan specs, but did you guys use SLR's specs or Nissan's?

When I had my truck aligned after having the Calmini arms put on the guy said he couldn't get the Caster to spec. Did you get proper Caster? That was Les Schwab that did my alignment though, so...

I also have a pull to the left now. I'll probably take it to a better place to have the alignment done after the Calmini steering system is installed.

just rambling! :rolleyes:

BTW; you didn't pull your whole lift did you Ian? You only replaced the A-Arms right? Sorry; having nightmares imagining you pulling your nice rear springs and installing the Calmini AAL's.

I'm running the full CALMINI lift now.

The National spring pack sagged over 2.5 inches in the last year, so it's in the garage now with the rest of the parts. I had already bandaged the sag last year by adding the SLR 1" shackle. When I removed the springs last week I had less than 3" between the axle and rear bumpstop, which is the same as a stock Xterra.

National would not warranty the spring. They asked me to weigh my truck with all my gear in it, and they would make me an AAL for it.
Fuck that, 200 lbs. of gear in a 4100 lb. truck shouldn't cause the springs to fail that quickly.

They were a nice spring, and I miss how well they handled, but they don't last.

I couldn't get within Nissan's specs and barely within SLR's looser tolerance with a 1/4" bumpstop gap. I feel this is bullshit that they sell a lift that cannot be aligned to Nissan's spec with usable downtravel. The tires still looked like this: "\ /" and my front tires were wearing on the outside edges.

I also don't think their kit is balanced well front to rear. Using my rock sliders as a reference the rear was only a 1/4" higher than the front when first installed and no load in the truck. The truck looked very level almost no rake to it. With my normal load of camping gear and tools, the front was higher than the rear. With the ride height set to look level when loaded meeting either spec was impossible.

I have an appointment Tuesday to get aligned, for now I eyeballed it. I played around with the camber bolts today and can set positive or negative camber with the Calmini arms with more down travel than the SLR setup would allow. Other than the Calmini UCA's I have the rest of SLR Stage III installed and don't plan on removing it.

I agree they ride great but don't seem like they'll last long. $600 bucks for springs every year doesn't sound too appealing.

I discussed my problems with the ride height with Spencer and he said he would send a AAL to raise the rear. That was 18 days ago, we'll see if he comes through before GOX. I'm not holding my breath.

Wow; that sucks Ian! Sorry to hear that.

I have kind of a mix of things going on now on my truck. I have the Calmini A-Arms, Calmini Torsion Bars, and Calmini Shackles, but have the SLR 3 pack AAL's. So far I'm very happy with the way my truck rides and drives. It also sits the way I want it visually, with the nose down stance. Hopefully my Calmini steering system won't be too far off so I can complete the package.

BTW Ian, I painted my roof rack too. Now the Turd (KMA), ARN, sliders, and roofrack are all the same color. Kicks ass if I must say so myself!

Here's a side profile picture I took at work one day after adjusting the torsion bars a bit (they're still settling). I have just over half an inch between the A-Arm and the upper bump stop.

Forgot to add that I have the extended length Bilstiens in back and when the rear susension drops all the way my driveshaft just clears the frame crossmember and I had to lengthen my breather hose. I guess I'm pretty much at the max for rear droop.

Time to change the "Reviews" section eh?

At least the alignment issue with your SLR arms was not as bad as the problems I had with my AC arms.

Bummer about the National Springs.

Yes.

So...many...problems.

Measuring to the frame rails is very inaccurate, and shouldn't be a basis for comparison.

After lifting, I measured 14" at the front cross member, which is 3" of lift considering the stock distance was about 11". I have no idea what you are measuring to to get 18".

The front end settled and had to be readjusted 7 times in 18 months.

I had 3 alignments, and the adjusters were as far back in the slot as they would go.



It still didn't work, and I ended up with this...



SLR originally stated 0.75" between the bumpstop and the upper arm. That was hard to measure since the bumpstop pads are in the wrong location on my arms (they were never originally designed for the Xterra or Frontier), but I was close. They later changed that to 0.75" - 0.50".

They recommend -0.5 to +0.5 camber, which was impossible to get on my truck, even after nudging the ball joints as far back into the mount as they would go. I could finally get close to the Nissan max spec of +1.1, but with arms this long, that causes too much camber under compression. I would estimate +5 degrees when cornering, which ate up a really nice set of BFG MT tires in only 18,000 miles.

With the truck sitting as high as possible to allow the best alignment I could get, the truck then sat an inch lower in the rear due to the sagged National springs.

So now it's off the truck and I am reviewing another brand and we'll see how that goes.

So much for all the bullshit people were saying about SLR being "great" because they have so many years of racing Nissans under their belt. Give me a break.

So what has SLR done to rectify the problems you encountered?

Mike..
Don't forget that it was SLR SR. not Jr. that had all the racing experiance. SLR still makes some great things. I guess that they are just more human than they would like to admit.

Guys,

Great information here..never have seent he SLR A-ARMs let alone sitting next to the Calmini.

Just a question though more than anything:

For the folks having troubles with Camber, how old or worn is your centerlink? The only reason I asked was after building this heim setup I had to put a washer over the top of the heim on both the Idler and Pitman or it would not align at all... meaning if there is ANY play or wear there it's impossible to get a correct camber.

As an experiment I loosened the Idler bolt a little to simulate stock centerlink wear and the more it was loosened, the more the camber was off. After retightening it, the camber came back into spec and this is just backing up 15 feet in my driveway.

Not the most scientific experiment but I think it demonstrates some of the problems folks are having with some of these AARMS.

It just doesn't make sense that BOTH AC and SLR would have quality control issues like that but it does make sense that centerlink wear is causing it.

Oh, well, just thought I'd share

MVM

I think this problem is here because both the AC and SLR arms were not designed with the Xterra in mind. Rather they are adaptations of designs that happen to work with the Xterra (for some not all).

To my knowldge the Calmini arms are the only Xterra specific arms on the market.

Carlton,

Good info bro' I wasn't aware of that....hmmmmm.

MVM

i just wanted to add that i've never had any alignment issues with my SLR UCA's. i've been able to set it to factory alignment specs, when i first installed it and to the specs that SLR recommends. with all the futzing and changes i've done with tires and my steering set up, bumpstop clearance has always been between 1/2" to 3/4". never had a camber issue at all.

i'm assuming you guys brought this up to SLR's attention and if you did weren't you able to work something out with them? i mean why would you go out and spend another $400 for another pair of UCA's when you could work something out with the manufacturer of the product? just curious.

I've never had an issue with my AC arms but know folks that have...it's frustrating to say the least.

Carlton can speak for himself, but I beleive he got the AC arms for free or really cheap, so going with Calmini arms was probably affordable solution.

My thoughts are: ahhh who cares what AARMS you have or whose you have to have to get on the trail..as long as your wheelin'...

MVM

Edit for spelling error..oops.