[richo27]

hey guys
just wondering if anyone has used the 3.5 or 5 inch shackle reversal kits from calmini?
any feed back?
and does anyone know if theres anywhere else to get the kits besides calmini?
i have been waiting for three months and they keep telling me there waiting for an update from production.

[atari4x4]

do a proper RUF & profit....

FYI sirch for RUF, there are a few good threads

[Gwagensteve]

They're terrible. Stay away. No flex, terrible ride. Bad idea.

Steve

[richo27]

sounds like the complete opposite of what they claim to be.
5in kit claims to give you 25in flex and improved ride quality
have you used one of these kits before Gwagensteve?

[Red89]

richo27 wrote:

sounds like the complete opposite of what they claim to be.
5in kit claims to give you 25in flex and improved ride quality
have you used one of these kits before Gwagensteve?

You would be lucky to find a shock to fit with 25 inches of flex. My 3 inch Calmini springs, that are used in the 5 inch kit, didnt flex anywhere near that.

[Joe]

I had it on my sierra, it was crap

[atari4x4]

richo27 wrote:

sounds like the complete opposite of what they claim to be.
5in kit claims to give you 25in flex and improved ride quality
have you used one of these kits before Gwagensteve?

buy it & you can prove us all wrong or try & get a refund when it doesn't work as advertised.

[Matthew]

richo27 wrote:

does anyone know if theres anywhere else to get the kits besides calmini?

Maybe the bin?

Seriously though, they are a really bad idea in a swb. We had a car in the club with one, it handled terribly, didn't flex at all. Spring tuning yielded a slightly better result, but no better than an untuned arb kit.

[Gwagensteve]

richo27 wrote:

sounds like the complete opposite of what they claim to be.
5in kit claims to give you 25in flex and improved ride quality
have you used one of these kits before Gwagensteve?

I've seen a few, and as per Matthew's comments, we have a club member with one. I drove it in as-installed condition and it scared me, on a hill a stock V6 GV3 was idling up. It was SO stiff and "hoppy" bouncing all aver the place.

Yep, they are exactly the opposite of what they claim to be.

In a heavy enough sierra, it might be possible to eek 25" of flex, but I cant imagine a sierra that would be heavy enough to achieve this. I also imagine it would need 8" rims with 2.5" BS or 10" rims to get near that too - width adds flex after all.

Shackle reverse does improve ride quality like for like over front shackles, but the added height the calamity brackets bring isn't helpful, nor are the insanely stiff springs. However, in difficult terrain, a shackle reverse encourages the car to drive over the top of the axle, because the axle moves backwards as the suspension compresses. This actually hurts climbing ability.

The guy in our club has pulled some leaves to lower and soften it, and he claims it's heaps better, but it would need to be.

I believe Shep had the kit and binned the shackle reverse. I'm aware of precisely one person who likes it, That's GRPABT1.

Steve.

[shep]

I never tried the shackle reversal, I bought a wreck with the 5 inch lift and thought it just looked dodgy. I used the springs which I think are awesome however they were very well used when I got them. I also used the rear shocks, front fish plate as it relocates the shock and the bomarang shackles which I broke a couple of years ago.

The front springs are fairly soft and move the diff forward a lot. Rear springs are very soft and long. My lwb rides much nicer then a mates swb with arb springs. It flexes well and I doubt many leaf spring cars with normal shackles would have much more flex.

I like my calmini springs but they are very worn in and would be at least 10 years old

[albie200]

I had one. Shit flex and was bouncy as,But drove better on the road.. I didn't have to use as much steering imput as I do now, I have factory power steering though.. have now gone to ruf,if I was building a daily driver that I didn't use off road I'd use it again. But never again for off road.

[albie200]

I had one. Shit flex and was bouncy as,But drove better on the road.. I didn't have to use as much steering imput as I do now, I have factory power steering though.. have now gone to ruf,if I was building a daily driver that I didn't use off road I'd use it again. But never again for off road.

[richo27]

think i might reconsider after reading all that
im wanting to build my suzuki for mainly 4wding and camping trips i dont really use it daily as i have a work car and my bike
so im looking for something that performs well off road and with a bit of flex. is there anywhere that does "RUF" kits or do you have to cut and weld to achieve this because i dont really have access to a welder

[albie200]

Someone on here does front shackle bolt on things.. They bolt into your chassis rails,from what I've heard they are not bad. I can't remember who it is off the top on my head but someone will point you in the right direction.

There is a yellow lwb running them. Look for it in the rigs section.

[albie200]

Found it.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=33169

2stroker does them.

[monley]

Suzistore sell bommerang shackles which allow you rear spring up front to. I had them in my short wheel...worked well.

[richo27]

What about these kits form lowrange.com. http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index.ph ... -kits.html has anyone had any experience with these.

[Matthew]

What's wrong with RUF?

[SierraDan]

monley wrote:

Suzistore sell bommerang shackles which allow you rear spring up front to. I had them in my short wheel...worked well.

whats the eye to eye measurement in a straight line?

[richo27]

well i dont have a welder and my zooks a WT so im struggling to see how i can RUF

[kenn]

Richo out of all of those kits I'd get the LRO kit coz it pics up the original spring mounts though the front shackles may get some lateral movement which could cause handleing issues. Think wisely, what do you really need, would an ARB suspension kit do the job, they work well and are legal.