i am thinking about getting the hotchkis sway bars. how good are they? do they hang down any in the back. i have heard of a couple people saying that some companies sway bars hang and it looks like crap.

to anyone that has done them, could you tell a noticable difference? i want to upgrade my handling, right now i have the hotchkis drop and i want to finish it off with the sway bars.

as for the shocks, who has the best shock? i am still running the stock shocks with the drop and i felt i should probably be running aftermarket shocks. thanks for yall help.......

 

Here's the Hotchkis rear bar:

<img src="http://home.earthlink.net/~rwaitas/_uimages/CalTracsRear.JPG" alt=" - " />

Here's a side view:

<img src="http://home.earthlink.net/~rwaitas/_uimages/CalTracsSide.JPG" alt=" - " />

The bars don't hang down any lower than the CalTracs at stock height. If you lower the truck more than 2" in the rear I could see the front of the bar being low...but they make shorter end links too.

Richard

<small>[ July 19, 2002, 12:13 AM: Message edited by: oxidizr ]</small>

 

thanks richard for the pics.

how do you like the sway bars? could you tell a difference when you put them on? also did you have to do any special drilling? they look pretty cool. i'll have to redo my exhaust by the looks of your picture. my exhaust now barely rubs up against the rear axle right where the sway bars mounts are. not a big deal though.

what about shocks have you heard anything about that?

 

how is the hotchkis ride compared to stock?

 

You have to drill 4 holes, but other than that it is bolt-on. The improvement in handling was nice and yes, I too have the stock front bar. It has a bit of oversteer but that's the way I like it <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" /> Plus the Hotchkis front bar restricts launch articulation much more than stock.

Richard

 

I also have the Hotchkis 2/4 and have a Hotchkis rear bar only. The fit is really nice and really stiffened up the rear in the corners. I still have the factory front bar so I need to get some poly bushings for it to stiffen up the front because I have a little oversteer becaust the rear wants to push over the front. If you go with the set it should be great. The only reason I dont have the set is b/c I bought the rear off a guy that bought the set and never installed the rear bar before he sold his truck.
As for shocks I am running the Doetsch Tech drop shocks and I love them. A very good shock and are reasonably priced (~$35ea)