im in need of some opinions...
ive got a 01 xterra with an AC 3inch suspension lift...im having nothing but problems with it. in the past 6 months ive had it aligned 7 times and no one can seem to get it right.. the drivers side is right, but the passenger side in order to get somewhat close the cam adjustments have to be completly oposite of each other and at their max. the passenger side tire is further forward than the drivers side.

after research ive learned that the UCA's are too long, and causing my tires to pitch out...in return stressing my ball joints.they also make an incredible amount of noise even after being greased. i think its because the passengers side is "twisted" into the frame.
immediatly after i put on slr's steering system.. after installing it i can no longer put my front sway bar on because it contact the tie rods at about 70 degrees of turning radius...so with no rear or front sway bar there is some body roll...
the other problem is the tie rod angles(which im sure everyone is having). the guy that does my alignment said my tie rod ends are binding. ive looked at going to a heim joint, but everyone says it would not solve the problem, and is not made for street use.

ive thought about going to a solid axel... after speaking with calmini, it sounds like you also have to replace the rear axle, the gears and so on... the work or the money is not a big problem...

ive also thought about going with a different manufacture of UCA's.

so i need some opinions...keep in mind i do mainly street driving, with some occasional off roading. i live in florida so no rock crawling for me...(infact i dont think ive ever seen a rock down here), so mainly sandy and muddy trails...

thanks for the help

First off, in my opinion the AC UCA's are crap, especially the first generation which were apparently unable to be aligned. That being said, almost any lifted truck is not going to be in Nissan alignment standards, but can be put in safe specifications that don't cause tire wear. If you're hitting your sway bar then my guess is that you've got your t-bars cranked waaaay too high would likely be causing that problem (remember the one finger between the bump-stop and UCA rule). Personally I would get new UCA's. If you have SLR steering then you might want to consider their UCA's. I run both on my truck and have no issues.

Regarding a solid-axle. That seems wasteful since you say you drive mostly on-road (so the ride quality will be worse) and you off-road in Florida which doesn't really see the rock-crawling and suspension twisting obstacles which would benefit such an expensive upgrade.

Hope that helps. Check in with your updates and we can try and help from there.

ive got my bump stops 1 half inch space...it doesnt hit when he car is at a rest...but what worries me is when i do go off roading, and my suspensions drops, with my tires turned it will bend my tie rods... when you say go with slr uca's are you talkin about the stamped steel or the tubular ones...the guy at calmini said in his opinion, all tubular uca's are too long...(im sure he says that because he only sells stamped ones). also, does the tubular ones and stamped ones that slr sells, do they have the same wheel travel?

The tubular ones have 1/2" more travel than the SLR and Calmini stamped ones.

Can you give more detail on the tie-rods bending? Where do you think the stress-factor coming from (contact, torsion, etc)? At 70% turn, something is changing. The SLR steering maintains OEM geometry so I don't understand how that would be contributing to the problem.

well suposidly the slr steering system drops the steering down like 3/16 of an inch... plus the tie rod adjusters are thiker...as for the binding its just the angle, and the guy told me that the tie rods where at their max angle with no room for play...so thats what he meant by binding.... like i said i can turn the wheel completly with the car standing still... but tie rod is damn near touching the sway bar..so if i was off roading and had the wheel turned and the suspension "dropped" from a bump it could do some serious damage

the guy at calmini told me that "all' tubualr style uca's where too long... anyone here agree with him

Well I'm stumped. The SLR steering shouldn't be letting the tie-rods go that low and you said you're not riding on your bumpstops so I'm confused at how the two are coming together. Don't get offended, but I'm going to ask if you're sure the tie-rods are installed correctly, i.e. on top of the centerlink and not beneath. That's the only thing I can think of, weird as it sounds.

Have you thought of calling SLR? And did you have this problem before you put in the new steering? I wonder how old those AC UCA's are, because I remember people having a lot of problems with them being too long and they were later corrected.

not offended... the tie rods are supposed to go through the bottom side...atleast that is what it says in the instructions and on the pictures... ive called spencer... the only help he can give me is "it shouldnt" (for me personally hes never been that much help)...

thanks again for your help

You're right. I mispoke about the top/bottom. I climbed under my truck tonight, and for the life of me can't figure out how you're getting contact. At rest the distance betwen my tie-rod (SLR one BTW) and sway-bar is 3" give or take. I had some contact problems when I improvised a sway-bar end-link where the bolt was too long, but only in severe articulation and wheel turning. A shorter bolt and the problem is gone.

If you can dig around and get some measurements of important components (sway-bar to tie-rod, uca to bump-stop, LCA to ground, etc, etc.) I can compare them to my truck. Maybe we can figure out what the issue is.

well i did get some extensions for it...about 2 inches,i dont know if i can go any shorter,,,even at 2 inches the bushings are twisted

im gonna order the new ucas this week. hopefully that will foix the alignment issues

did you measure with the wheel turned...it makes contact on the wheel turning inward... even befor i put in the new steering system, it showed signes of rubbing (not bad but had some paint transfer)...

well i did get some extensions for it...about 2 inches,i dont know if i can go any shorter,,,even at 2 inches the bushings are twisted

im gonna order the new ucas this week. hopefully that will foix the alignment issues

2 inches is probably too long. Even SLR's extension bushings are only a bit longer than stock. Some people reverse their sway bars if they can't get close.

another question... im interested in getting some performance cams for my x... havent been able to find anyone has done so... my truck is out of warranty so im not worried about it... any opinions?