I know a guy that is going to be selling his hotchkis lowering kit and I wanted to know if anyone had anything to say about it. I know the kit is discontinued and I wanted to know if it was worth it.

 

I have heard great results with that kit. The 2" lowering springs will wear your tires up front a little. I wanted a set of their 4" lowering leafs but I wasn't able to order them before they sold out. There are a few people that are on here that use that drop kit.

 

I had to get stiffer rear springs because truck would sway too much with their 4 inch drop springs. However haven't had complaints from new owner do font know if it's power related.

 

tdrumm had the Hotchkis 2/4 on his old 03 rcsb and I really liked the way his truck rode and handled...a little stiff, but that's to be expected I would think...

 

I'm reading that some say it's a pretty stiff ride. The guy that has the kit had 1'' blocks on the rear as well, He didn't have a C-notch. As far as the sway I was thinking about a set of helper bags that would give a little more load capacity back.

 

Steve, after I get home from work today, I'll give u some insight.

 

On my 02 silverado, at first I did the DJM LCA's and hangers/shackles. I hated the ride. After a lot of experimenting with that setup, I finally changed back to the stock LCA's and the stock hangers/shackles and went with the hotchkis front and rear 2/4 drop. It was a little firmer than stock but it also rode a lot better, and I could finally get a correct alignment also, which I was never able to get from the djm lca's. I really liked the hotchkis setup with the edelbrock ias shocks I had.

 

Steve-O, true the Hotchkis 2/4 rides firm but as I said to you, a good set of shocks would probably work wonders. Some QA1s or Edelbrock IAS or whatever.
Maybe some others like AFCO or whoever else could spec somethin for you. The QA1s are what I run in better weather, but I currently have BellTech Street & Performance. I swap QA1s when weather turns better. I still have to get some QA1s for the front, but that has to wait a few months. If u wanna do it in phases, stockers are OK up front, but the backs absolutely will be too short after a 4" drop!!!

It'll only have 1/2" of travel. It'll get old after it rocks your teeth out. Get shocks of some kind for the back before u oput that kit on.

It will handle quite well. I've had my front tires aired up to 44# for when I went to track to help a lil w/. MPG, but then I forgot to take some air back out. That may've contributed to a lil extra or rather premature wear on outer edges, but had I not done that, I don't feel you'll get excessive wear. I don't believe that. Unless it's from goin in hot on the curves, that' I'd believe.

Be assured, you can take on- & off-ramps & turns quicker. I've done sometimes 25 MPH over what I woulda had the Hotchkis kit not been there. While I don't necessarliy recommend doin that on all turns, cause how it slopes, or left or right, I've done it.

Only thing that may be better is different spring rates or shock rates, but they could take a long time & cost a lot of coin. This kit is engineered to take out the guesswork.

I did notice it rides smoother when I had 420# of shingles in bed directly over axle, but now I just have my tonneau on there, & while not as heavy as shingles, it smoothes out the big bumps. If u hit a bad enuff spot in road, you're gonna feel it, but some good shocks & your Cali roads are surely better than here, then u should be OK. Post any other questions on here & I'll answer em best I can since my PM box is always full or send message thru my profile visitor message like u did before. Let us know if u went w/. the Hotchkis.

 

I was thinking about going with a 1'' block in the rear just because I think I 4'' would be a little low for my taste. Plus I will have a little more load carrying capacity with them in. Thanks for all the info guys.

 

Hotchkis Kit now in the garage also got a set of 1'' blocks with it. I think I'll need new bumpstops.