Calmini Shackle Reverse

[charger]

What does anyone think of this lift??????

[twiss]

Wait for turbo-tom to come on... he's got it on his zook

[Tramp]

I've got it on mine - Its fantastic

before


after


really well made kit, Mine was the 3.5" kit and like I said its spot on

[ROBBIE]

i got the rhino ray kit, same thing basically, 1 of the best things i found it did was to take the sloppiness out of the front end and made the steering so much more responsive

[turbo-tom]

Calmini Shackle Reverse......

good points- pretty much bomb proof , gives it some hight , makes it look beefy , alot of flex for leaf sprung

bad points- horrible on the road its rock hard, bounces all over the place etc (thats about right for an sj anyway )

personly i think its amazing for off road ,

i would say for suspension line up would be:

1. coil conversion
2. Calmini Shackle Reverse
3. adda leaf
4.virtual lift
5. and them fang looking things

[twiss]

lol scott won't be happy with virtual lift at number 4.... although its not really anything to do with the suspension lol

I should point out that tom has the rock-hard calmini leaf springs as well as the shackle reversal

[ROBBIE]

ahh mine wasnt rock hard until i put add a leaf on, on standard springs it aint too bad

[twiss]

Oh and another point...

I actually quite like the long shackles on the back of mine. Didn't cost me anything, good amount of lift, lots of flex, and they've been on there a year and the springs aren't knackered yet

The main problem with big shackles is when you get stuck on the front ones... by the time you hit that back ones you're normally past the obstacle

[charger]

I've got it on mine - Its fantastic

before


after


really well made kit, Mine was the 3.5" kit and like I said its spot on

Looks great do you need to get new leafs too or the add a leaf with it.

[ScottieJ]

Many people say that shackle reverse does improve an SJs handling on road and most people are happy with the calmini kits so I can’t say a bad thing about them really.

However I just want to clear up a few facts.

A bolt on shackle reverse kit won't actually make your suspension flex any more than standard, all it does is swap the shackle from one end to the other, this does not increase the amount that a spring can flex, The only things that can really reliably improve flex on a leaf spring is more length in the leaves (lift springs or longer springs like YJs) and longer shackles. The calmini kits comes with lift springs and longer shackles for the rear, that’s why you get a bit more flex.

Any sj lift springs will make the ride firmer no matter what anyone try’s to tell you; that is the nature of lift springs they need to be firmer to hold their arch better. Sj’s springs are just too short to get lift as well as a soft ride, that is why YJs are so good, the springs are 44” long and very supple, with my old +2” lift ironman springs I could put one on the floor if I stood on it, it would hardly compress 2” if you do the same with a YJ leaf it compresses probably 3x more and is a lot softer.

Also you might have fun getting hold of a calmini kit, not many places in the UK keep them in stock and I wouldn’t bother trying to order it direct from the US it will probably take a long time!

I also have to disagree with the list of preferred suspension set ups.

1. coils / coilovers / airshocks
2. YJ spring conversion
3. Bedford rascal (or CJ) rear springs and RUF (rear springs up front)
4. shackle reverse / normal lift springs
5. add-a-leafs
6. lift shackles (1.5” longer than stock maximum!)

As for a virtual lift, if you want large tyres and don’t mind chopping up your body a bit I would personally do it before adding any lift.