Looking for the best lift kit, any recomendations?

[Astroc2002]

I own a 94 LE V6 Pathfinder and would like to get the best long lasting suspension lift kit, preferably either a 3" or higher. I also plan on adding a 3" body lift to my truck. So if anyone knows of that makes superior heavy duty parts, let me know. Oh and I plan on keeping the IFS front end, even though people smite its limitations when it comes to off-roading, still want to hold on to it.

[OldSlowReliable]

although theres alot of info on this, ill sum it up.

 

If your looking for a 3" sl, then you will need to do either one of two things-

 

TM Lift- Uses drop brackets, and lifts 4"

SL Kit- Uses Modified Upper Control Arms, and a cranking of your torsion bars, for the front. Then uses some sort of new coil in the back, to give a max of 3"

 

 

Calmini is supposedly the more heavy duty brand, they use stiffer springs, and more robust UCA's, but some dislike them

[88pathoffroad]

Calmini is the beefiest, but also the most expensive. You can look at their kits at www.purenissan.com

[GoPathyGo]

IFS

 

Except for a very small number of situations, I think you'll find IFS will serve you just fine on the trail. It requires more care and skill than the "1 gazillion inch tires on titanium super unobtanium solid axles" brute force approach, but for some folks, like me, that's half the fun. Folks here have done Moab and the Rubicon on IFS. It's fashionable to trash IFS. I say,"Baloney!"

 

My $0.02.

[SteeevO]

I'll admit.. sometimes i miss being IFS on the trail

[MY1PATH]

Calmini UCA's are by far the beefyest. Theri 27.5mm t-bars are stiff but they will take anykind of tail abuse in good stride.

 

BUT the calmini UCA needs modifying to fit larger shocks(1/2" of grinding on the innner radius)

 

And there was complaint of the tell-tale squeak.

 

Mine have not made a sound, in '06 they went from derlin bushings to vecton bushings, I added Energy Suspension "Formula 5" grease to the vecton bushings and have not had a noise so far (over a month now)

[Astroc2002]

Calmini is the beefiest, but also the most expensive. You can look at their kits at www.purenissan.com

 

I've also looked into TM's 4" Suspension Lift System, but I've been told in other forums that Trailmaster's Pathfinder Lift Kit is a semi poor design. I heard that do to its design it was prone to breaking CV shafts and parts of the steering assembly.

 

But if I used Calmini parts with Trailmaster's system would it increase it's durability and life expectancy?

[OldSlowReliable]

calmini lift is NOTHING like the TM lift...The TM lift works, by dropping everything down 4", whereas the calmini has it all in the same spots, but just pushes it down further with UCAs and Springs...

[MikeV]

Happy with my Calmini setup, and cut the UCA's to fit rancho 9000's.

TM has that torsion bar drop which looks like a mudplow... Not hating; it just seems more for the mall:-)

[BoneZ]

although theres alot of info on this, ill sum it up.

 

If your looking for a 3" sl, then you will need to do either one of two things-

 

TM Lift- Uses drop brackets, and lifts 4"

SL Kit- Uses Modified Upper Control Arms, and a cranking of your torsion bars, for the front. Then uses some sort of new coil in the back, to give a max of 3"

Calmini is supposedly the more heavy duty brand, they use stiffer springs, and more robust UCA's, but some dislike them

Forgets to tell you 3rd option of using TM lift and SL on the same truck with no body lift and 7" of lift. And on the SL rough country-same and superlift just different plating-powder coating, are good UCA's but you have to source springs separately.

[pathybuilder]

I've also looked into TM's 4" Suspension Lift System, but I've been told in other forums that Trailmaster's Pathfinder Lift Kit is a semi poor design. I heard that do to its design it was prone to breaking CV shafts and parts of the steering assembly.

 

But if I used Calmini parts with Trailmaster's system would it increase it's durability and life expectancy?

 

 

I'm not sure about the steering assembly being a weak point but the CV's I thought would stand up better with the Trailmaster lift than with a SL, as they keep the factory geometry. Calmini makes an HD steering setup that I've heard is an excellent replacement if looking for added strength. I was looking into the TM kit as well. I've received e-mail from AC stating that TM MAY BE discontinuing the WD21 lift, but they may have been trying to convince me to "order now before it's too late"

[Astroc2002]

Forgets to tell you 3rd option of using TM lift and SL on the same truck with no body lift and 7" of lift. And on the SL rough country-same and superlift just different plating-powder coating, are good UCA's but you have to source springs separately.

 

 

So I'll achieve seven inches of lift when combining Trailmaster's SL with Calmini's SL without BL. I should look into that to see if it would work. But just incase it won't work which would be the company to go with?

 

Granted I will be swapping out UCA's with Calmini's Design plus drop in the Idler Arm Brace and springs and torsion bars. So if I did go with Trailmaster's SL I'll technically be using both.

 

Has anyone used TM's SL and had any problems?

[OldSlowReliable]

As the TM/Calmini lifts are completely different, you can use both, AND a BL to get a total of 10" of lift...but i don't think ive heard of anyone doing it...

 

 

But what you gotta think of, is the only thing that really increases your clearance is the tire size, and running anything over 33's or 34's on anything that needs to be reliable, with IFS, is kinda risky....

 

And, the TM lift doesn't increase your clearance of alot of snag points, ie torsion bars, and anything else it drops...

 

 

Another thing to think about, is $$, if you buy the entire calmini kit, thats 1000, plus the steering setup, thats 600, plus the TM kit, thats 1000....2600 bucks is alot of money....

 

And don't forget, these two kits specialize in lifting the FRONT, but when you go to look @ the back, to utilize the 7" of lift, you will need to find springs that will lift it enough, plus probably get rid of the sway bars, and get a custom panhard bar drop, extend all your brake lines, and im not sure, but maybe have to modify the control arms and/or driveline, depending....And to really utilize all this lift, you will need special back shocks, which won't come with either kit...

 

This will render the following parts useless from either kit (im my logic is correct)

Rear shocks

Panhard bar drop

Rear Brakeline extensions

Rear Springs/Spacers (unless you WANT to use the TM spacers)

 

 

 

But, hey, thats just my .02, i'd much rather go for 3+3=33's with a mismatched sl, but im rather cheap

[Astroc2002]

As the TM/Calmini lifts are completely different, you can use both, AND a BL to get a total of 10" of lift...but i don't think ive heard of anyone doing it...

But what you gotta think of, is the only thing that really increases your clearance is the tire size, and running anything over 33's or 34's on anything that needs to be reliable, with IFS, is kinda risky....

 

And, the TM lift doesn't increase your clearance of alot of snag points, ie torsion bars, and anything else it drops...

Another thing to think about, is $$, if you buy the entire calmini kit, thats 1000, plus the steering setup, thats 600, plus the TM kit, thats 1000....2600 bucks is alot of money....

 

And don't forget, these two kits specialize in lifting the FRONT, but when you go to look @ the back, to utilize the 7" of lift, you will need to find springs that will lift it enough, plus probably get rid of the sway bars, and get a custom panhard bar drop, extend all your brake lines, and im not sure, but maybe have to modify the control arms and/or driveline, depending....And to really utilize all this lift, you will need special back shocks, which won't come with either kit...

 

This will render the following parts useless from either kit (im my logic is correct)

Rear shocks

Panhard bar drop

Rear Brakeline extensions

Rear Springs/Spacers (unless you WANT to use the TM spacers)

But, hey, thats just my .02, i'd much rather go for 3+3=33's with a mismatched sl, but im rather cheap

 

 

Good point, I'll probably just go with the Calmini SL and 3" BL and upgrade the steering to compensate wider rims and larger tires. Thanks everyone.