Frankly - getting screwed, things sucking...sounds like it should be a GOOD thing, No?

I dont get it did Calmini just take a nose dive in quality and customer service. I remember when SLR was the crap and Calmini was the top. Ive had a number of Calmini parts and never had any complaints. I guess it is the luck of the draw sometimes. Sorry to hear some of you are having such a bad time.

Tim

Nah, it's just that the Calmini stuff isn't passing the test of time. The stuff is failing, and people are seeing it. The biggest problem is that people are not willing to admit that they wasted money on a half-assed "eh, it'll work" product.

Hey, what ever lets you sleep better at night.

Thanks for clarifying for me....now im getting worried about my Calmini parts!!! Time to crawl under there and look for anything that just dont look right!!!! Thanks again.

Tim

I had steering bushings (plural) wear out too. And yes I finally found another solution. But everything else took a beating. I put about 50000 miles on it and its all still on the road just on other vehicles.

You guys need to wheel with other makes and understand that NOTHING is indestructible I dont give a shit what you make it out of.

I have seen the shackle bolts break becaus someone refused to replace the bushings in the mounts or in the leafs, it causes them to twist some.

Anyone who gets into 4 wheeling thinking "oh look I bought this part and now it will be indestructible forever no matter what". Well those people better get right back out. Shit breaks for lots of reasons. Also if you dont get under there and check for loose bolts or other signs of trouble then you are asking for trouble again.

So in closing:
1. If you think 4x4 is a cheap hobby, go buy a kite and have fun there.
2. Get under your vehicles on a regular basis(regular is not once a year or biannually), check for loose bolts, Loose steering, leaks, grease your zerks, listen for odd sound.
3. Type 4x4 now hit shift & type it again....

....$X$, that is part of wheeling.

Well said.

I'm not even pissed about money in any way. It's just how Steve runs his company with a "my shit doesn't stink" attitude.

OK, Kevin now you are saying my kite's and the hobby is cheap? You come down here and I'll show you what my kites can do... bet that SAS of yours can't hang

Hey, all aftermarket companies will have good and bad. Even the guys doing it all themselves have issues. Like Kevin says it's a hobby that takes time and money. Nobody will have a truck last long if all they do is wheel and add mods. A little preventitive maintenance goes a long way.

I just hope all the aftermarket guys continue to develope for us. We all need to report results too... just not RANT about them.

Well its gotta be cheaper than wheeling... unless you have a hang glider. :p

kites can be an expensive hobby. I've got a friend who is addicted. I went with him down to the sand dunes. He's around 250#, took one of those 36"+ duffle bags and filled it with sand as a 'deadman', cliped it to a climbing harness, just to slow his travel across the sand.

The kite sounded like a small jet when it went by. I was inbelievable to watch him with this amount of pull from the kite. He would have ended in Alamosa if he was not tethered.

He likely has a couple hundred kites. Keeps a whole bunch is a space case un his truck, just in case there is 'good wind'

I've enjoyed watching people along the coast with stunt kites. I've got a few kites, luckily I never got addicted like modifying the truck. Maybe if I was younger, I'd get more use out of it.

Todd

Yeah...I enjoy my kites!

It takes a true man to admit to having a Kite Hobby

well, atleast when you get pissed at somebody with a kite hobby, you can just tell them to go fly a kite and they'll go away.

Alright Dave, that was bad

and that was late

Yeah, My Calmini Steering lasted ~5K miles, 3 months, and 1 day of light wheeling before it was toast. That was with regular maintenance.

I'm not looking for indestructable, but my Stock steering held out longer than that POS did.

BTW I've been waiting now 54 weeks for a warrentied replacement idler arm from Calmini...still haven't gotten that or a refund, and I doubt I ever will.

I've got two really nice 2-line kites that I fly from time to time. One is a Lotus 3/4 - it'll give you 50-75lbs of pull (very rough guess) on a windy day. It's slow and it buzzes when it flies. The other one is called a 'mini dipper'. It's small and very very fast. Tons of fun somewhere like Florida where I bought it where the wind is very steady - hard to fly here in Texas where the wind is many things - but NEVER steady.