The Calmax story began in the 1980’s when lowering pickups was gaining popularity. At that time you might find heated coils and leaf springs as the accepted way to get the “look”. Pioneers of lowering trucks could make them look good but had a very hard time making them ride well. Thus began the quest for the “look” and a ride a soccer mom could deal with. The hot rod builders solved their ride problems by building custom front ends using existing original equipment components. This worked great for the rod builder, who usually was building from the “frame up”. He could mix and match until he got what he wanted in terms of ride height, performance, and appearance while considering frame clearance, wheel and tire clearance, fender clearance, etc. The truck guy was stuck with modifying original factory parts. A lot of choices were not something a truck guy could select from.
That was over 25 years ago and a lot has changed. There are still some knuckleheads using the “blue tip wrench” to lower trucks, but not many now and you don’t need them. Early in the “rise” of lowering trucks there was a giant leap in technology called the “Drop Spindle” this part changed everything. Now you could lower your truck a couple of inches and still have a ride even your mother could love. Guess that takes care of that! Not, only a couple of inches! Simply put, “ it’s just not enough”.
Almost as soon as someone used heat to shorten a spring, someone else made shorter springs by cutting coils, and then naturally someone engineered a shorter spring designed to lower a truck, made from scratch and designed to ride pretty good. Well, it did not take anyone very long to combine the spindle and spring to go past the puny couple of inches the spindle provided. Now you would think that’s the end of problem, nothing left to do but go get some spindles and springs, put them on and cruise. Many people did, and many people were happy for a while. The trucks were low and looked good and even rode better, but they still had alignment issues and the ride while improved wasn’t anything anyone was bragging about.
Lowering trucks with spindles and springs had three problems, which seemingly couldn’t be solved. Alignment, Wheel Clearance, and Ride Quality. Getting the “look” was no problem, some of the best looking trucks ever lowered were done with spindles and springs. The truck shows from the 80’s was “eye candy” galore. The magazine guys couldn’t wait for the next show so they could feature the latest idea on the cover.
Everybody was happy except the guys building the trucks. “I can’t afford two trucks, one for show and one for go”, was often heard. How can I build this truck for show and drive it to work? Or worse yet to the grocery store, or if I have to, to soccer practice. There has to be a better way. There is!
The idea of modified control arms had been around for a long time. Hot rod guys had been doing it, and there were actually some people cutting up factory control arms and welding them back to together with offsets trying to do what spindles and springs couldn’t do. While that is not a good idea, the lowered control arm has become the most effective way to lower your truck and maintain the ride quality the factory gave it, the alignment the factory gave it, and you won’t be ashamed anymore to pick up the team from soccer practice. In fact you may be the coolest. Click on all of the pages and become a PHD (Professional Height Dictator) of lowering the CALMAX way.
Questions? ask tutorialdude@calmaxsuspension.com
