total chaos steering kit (any thoughts)

[lbishop]

Im getting ready to bump up to 33s on the x and havent beefed up the steering yet.

Im seriously comsidering the total chaos tie rods with the king kong steering kit. I just wanna make sure im not wasting my money before I order this. Also, am i going to need hd tras if go this route. If I do need them, Can I use ac or what?

Ive been checking around on the calmini kit and been told I would be waiting awhile to get it.

any imput is cool

thanks

*scrapping a pos a jeep cherokee and put that money back into the x lol (man I HATE jeeps)

 

[Mirage]

...Also, am i going to need hd tras if go this route. If I do need them, Can I use ac or what?...

No, because you will have to use TC's heim setup with it, which is basically your tie rod ends and adjusters. Your not going to get many if any answers, because not many people shell out for the entire TC setup. If your prepared to pay for it, I don't think you could go wrong with it though, definitely a beefy and solid system. I have given thoughts to upgrading to it in the distant future.

 

[lbishop]

Alright thanx man.

I picked up a cherokee on the cheap and gonna end up makin nearly a grand off it. So the x is about to get some major upgrades steering wise

 

[Sionnach]

I had read that the TC heims may not be legal in all instances / states / for highway use.

 

[lbishop]

whoa then might need to do a little check to see if im good to go in Tennessee then.

Thanx for the heads up

also, where do I check to see if there legal in my state?

 

[xterror04]

is your steering in good shape now?... Ive been running 33's for 2 years now... with completely stock suspension... just added a IAB and steering stabalizer... no issues yet! (KNOCK ON WOOD)

 

[Jmac289gt]

I was on Calminis waiting list for a month, then they called me last week on Tuesday the 27th of December and said they had them ready to go, they took my money but still have not even shipped the kit...I have called twice and he says it is just been a crazy time with the holidays and there running behind. All he could promise me is he would give me a tool bag for the wait...a tool bag!

 

[lbishop]

@xterror04- Ya man my steering is good, i may just go the route you went with the iab, already have a steering stabilizer


@jmac289gt- That sucks about the calmini steering kit. Is all there products got a wait time like that?


*SO if dont get the total chaos kit, I guess im lifting it more.

thanx for yalls input

 

[Jmac289gt]

I don't really know about there wait time cause this is the first purchase I will be making with them, all my other stuff came from A/C.

 

[Dimo]

It's nice to have the upgraded steering if you are going to do hard core off roading. For the most part, people upgrade their steering if they do rock crawling because there will be a lot of opposing pressure against your steering components on rocks. Stock TRA and TRE can bend or break on the trail. Plus our Xterras had a weak steering setup to begin with. I went with SLR for their rep and quick delivery time. I've heard but never confirmed bad customer service from Calmini so I avoided them just to be on the safe side. Even if you don't upgrade your entire steering, look into having back up TRA and TRE and if you haven't already, get an IAB. Your stock steering will also wear much quicker running 33s.

 

[TJTJ]

The steering wear issue is very individualistic....some people off road for years with 33's and stock steering, and are fine, and other bend up the TRA, etc, on the first trip out, etc. It MOSTLY seems to depend on your style/feel for the terrain. Some people are gun'n go types, some people are tip toeing, etc....some people avoid fighting the steering, others brute force their way through, etc.

If you are easy on it, it lasts, if you are har on it, it fails...and after that, its a question of degree.

 

[Jmac289gt]

Im only running 32's right now and I had to replace my original one that had about 90K miles on it, I went with Factory OEM parts and on my first trip out I bent a tie rod adjuster and screwed up a brand new center link....that is why im waiting on a HD system now.

 

[lbishop]

so from what im gathering from yall is this, I think im gonna start beefing it up a little at time then. Put the money im getting from the heep into other stuff for it.

Gonna go ahead and get the iab on it!

I tried to be as easy on my as possible cause it still pulls daily driver duties back and forth to school. No real hardcore rock crawling. Most mudd and some pretty rutted out stuff

thanx for the help

 

[Jmac289gt]

Well as stated above, some guys run fine on beefed up adjusters on OE stuff, I just did not have that luck and don't want to go through this again which is way I have opt to spend the extra money this time around.

 

[TKDx00]

Does anyone actually have either the SLR's steering or the AC's?

SLR's King Kong Steering Kit @ $695 and Heim Joint Tie Rod Steering @ $535 totaling $1230.00.
AC's total steering kit is $1140 on sale from $1200.
Calmini $600 but I've seen a few negative comments about this.

I know a few have the Calmini system but only have heard folks talk about the others. Does anyone actually have them?

 

[Sionnach]

I have the SLR stuff, just not installed yet.

 

[Silver dude]

I have the SLR Centerlink, with the gusseted pitman arm, gusseted idler and idler brace its been good. After 60,000 miles it has began to recently develop slop. But, the wear parts are readily avalable from multiple industrial supply places. I've wheeled my truck hard at Gonemoab and a few other week long pound the truck events as well as living in a town with poorly maintained roads. Its lasted way longer then the factory setup which was like the plague every 15,000 or less was new parts time. In the time I've had the SLR setup I've gone through 2 sets of tierod ends. I've found it to be a trustworthy reliable setup offroad and on. The cons? I found the price to be high for mostly modified stock components (idler etc.). Bandit 4x4 idler arm bushings were required to make the system last. It didn't really improve bumpsteer or road handling. Just the strength and longitivity of use. I've owned a basic grassroots4x4 style system in the past. Honestly the difference in longitivity is minimal. If I had to do it again I'm not sure I would front the additional cost for the SLR to have a more pretty looking TIG welded tubular link. But, the gusseted arms are worth the piece of mind.

Calmini setup is what I ponder at times I wish I would of gone with. Why?

Billet arms, completly redesigned fresh setup. With a center link separate mounted from the tierods and the tierods mounted direct to the arms. I'd like to think it would improve the handling a bit. Cheaper compared to other full on replacement setups. However, there is the issue of their idler bushings wearing out.

 

[TKDx00]

Dude, It seems you've put your steering together piece by piece over the yrs after buying 1 complete at the start. W/ that being said you gave cudos to Calmini which are not as beefy. Reading posts on this I've come to the conclusion a beefy centerlink is a must and first on the list. TRE's seem to be the most replaced item. My point is here somewhere... Would it be safe to say there is no ONE sure fire system and it's a fair assumption aside from prices SLR, AC, Calmini systems are all the same as far as the more non-wearoutable parts.

 

[Silver dude]

Yeah sadly I believe there is no surefire best steering system. All of them have flaws in some manner. The SLR has caused me to not worry about steering replacement. Though no system lasts forever. The tierods are weak and flawed on every system so maintenence will still always be nessisary. Its the poor engineering on nissan's end. When you lift the truck it puts harsh angles on the tierods which quickly wears them out. The stock centerlink joints were never engineered for the harsh angle. Stock it gets a push and pull. But when lifted the the tierods are angled and cause a up down pull on the joint quickly destroying it. You can't do anything to fix the leverage issue. Unless you stay at stock height or go with a long arm setup or crossmember drop like other lifted ifs truck lift kits. But neither are cheap or available options.

 

[TKDx00]

On paper the AC version looks and is worded as if its the 2 TC systems combined. interesting.

 

[Silver dude]

Yeah with them you never know, they never announce their sources.

 

[NMTerras]

Total chaos steering system initial report: so far, I love it. Very solid, smooth and has been great on highway fishing trip as well as some light wheeling. I'll follow up when I've done some real crawling in the next week or two. In response to tkd's post, yes the ac system is total chaos king kong system - centerlink, pitman arm, IAB and heim joints replacing the tie rod assemblies. You use your stock idler arm pin, everything else is new and BEEFY