hodgeee

Well, had my suspension installed in two parts so that I could comment on each part of the suspension. I yesterday had the Hotchkis 2/4" drop put on minus the swaybars, then today had the matching swaybar set installed.

The front is a 2" progressive rate spring, and the rear is a 4" drop leaf spring assembly, using the stock shackle and hanger, and includes poly bushings. The kit comes with new bumpstops to replace the originals and leaves about 2&1/2" between the bumpstops and the suspension when installed. The kit dropped my front end down 1&3/4" in front and exactly 4" in the rear. Pretty close to advertised. Unlike the Belltech kit that states that you can do an alignment right off the bat, Hotchkis Tech Support recomended about 3 days or more of driving for full settling, but they also advise that It can be fully aligned on installation.

The swaybar kit consists of a larger hollow tube front bar that is about 25% larger in diameter than the stock bar and is claimed to be 48% stiffer. The rear bar is a 1" solid bar that uses side mounts for stability and to also help limit the side by side movement of the suspension. This kit is recommended to work best with the rear replacement Hotchkis springs, or with the stock springs it is recommended to get the panhand rod kit for the rear to get the equal amount of suspension stabilization, that the full Hotchkis kit claims to make on its own. This comes with poly bushings all around, new Endlinks, and zerk fittings on the new main bar bushings front and rear.

On this install I had the Edelbrock IAS shocks installed, specifically designed for a 2" drop in front, and a 4" drop in rear. These also come with poly bushings, and rod boots.

On my review I have a SC/RB stepside, so I cannot give a comparison on the extracab models. Of course this kit is for 2 wheel drive vehicles only.

On my initial driving with the stock suspension, when pushed hard into a corner, the front end had major understeer, and a small delay when turning in. Heavy throttle did not help give any steering assist, but only helped to push the truck farther into the other lane, with what I call uncontrolled drift! The brakes when slammed in an emergency type situation, caused the truck to wallow and want to lock the driver side tires, and cause the vehicle to pitch to the passenger side. Not what I would call stable braking. What surprizes me about this truck is that all the heavy weight items on the truck seem to stay on the driver side, like the battery, and the gas tank, and I beleive this is why the vehicle pitches this way. I do like that the rear seem to lock up at the same time as the front, showing that GM's electric brake control works well. When going over bumps in the road, it would cause the truck to bounce around, and the rear end to settle in any spot but its original path. Now of course I do not expect sports car handling from a truck, and under normal driving conditions, this gives a good ride and a lot of comfort.

After getting the shocks and suspension installed I went for some more tests on the same roads that I had tested the suspension on before. The suspension is a little bouncier than stock on bumpy roads, but rides smoother on the freeway, and offers a very nice ride. The truck still is a little vague with turn in, but does not pitch and dig into the corners as before, now with a little extra throttle you can achive oversteer a little in the handling. When going over bumps the rear seems to be much better planted, and stays in a straight line. The braking feel has dramatically increased, and at high speeds the vehicle seems to stop stronger, and with 100% more confidence, and all the pitching to the passenger side is almost eliminated, except at speeds of 80 or higher, but it is just a little noticable, with ten times better control. The rear brakes seem to be taking up much more of the stopping duty, making the front brakes feel real familiar to a Mustang Cobras braking capabilities. Now it feels almost effortless stopping from speeds of 100 mph, without the worry of warping the rotors.

Today had the swaybars attached and took her out again. Now as I have mentioned above about the handling triats, the only differences here are in the hard corners. At speed, and on the freeways and bumpy roads, the handling feels the same, as does the braking. Now when turning hard into a corner the response is much faster, and the digging into the corner feels completely eliminated. It brings a high neutral state to the truck when driving into the corner, and the steering is very responsive, giving a much better level of handling than I would have expected, and a quick feel to inputs. The rear feels completely planted in the corner and oversteer is an easy proposition, even with the stock power levels. In other words its a blast to blow the rear end out in the corner. The neutral handling is quite a surprise considering how much more weight is in the front of the truck. It is so balanced now with this package that it is easy to get a 4 wheel drift throught the corner, with complete control. I would much more highly recommend this kit for a 2/4" drop than a DJM or Belltech drop. I have driven both, and neither one of those offers the handling and stability of this kit. All together I have spent about $1300 for the kit. Yes about 3 times the money than a complete kit from another manufacturer, but to me worth every penny for the sports car handling that this complete kit offers. The BellTech kit with the Hellwig swaybar that I have compared this to, does not nearly offer the level of control. Hotchkis did a fantastic job on matching the spring rates and the swaybar control of this kit, for uncompromised handling with a mild drop. I have not been able to bottom this out, and I have tried a bit to do so. I am only limited with my corner entry speed and total level of handling by the factory tires and rims that I am still currently running. Finally Hotchkis recommends to run the same tire sizes front to rear for the nuetral and balanced handling that this kit offers. It was designed for that type of tire setup.

If someone has posted this before, than I am sorry for cluttering the site with posts, but otherwise I hope this will help others in deciding on a suspension setup for their truck. <img border="0" alt="[USA]" title="" src="graemlins/patriot.gif" />

redaddiction

iTrader: (12)

lol all you had to say is that it works pretty damn well and we would of gotten the idea also i didnt know hotchiks make a panhard bar for our trucks that must be new because as far as i know they never have

marc

hodgeee

"lol all you had to say is that it works pretty damn well and we would of gotten the idea also i didnt know hotchiks make a panhard bar for our trucks that must be new because as far as i know they never have

marc"

Well, I know that, but I know others want to know detailed handling traits. Someone telling me, "yeah its great" don't mean diddly, without specifics! Imagine if all magazine articles were written like that, "Motor Trend, Today we tested the new 350Z, its cool." end of article. Oh yeah, got to get one of those. Trying to tell why this suspension is so good, so others who want awesome handling would know whats out there. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

On the panhand rod, just look up their website, it's on there. The listing only shows 1998 and below, you have to call them for the model that fits the 99 frames and up.

Oh, by the way, you got any pics of the Turbo installed?

<small>[ April 13, 2003, 04:54 AM: Message edited by: hodgeee ]</small>

1TRUESS

iTrader: (16)

Wow, that was long! I put the same setup on mine about 3 weeks ago, it still needs an alingment. I have had the truck up and around 120 MPH, it felt very stable. On and off ramps I can take about 10 to 20 MPH faster now. It is a great setup.

About the panhard bar - Emailed Hotchkis about two weeks ago and they said they had no plans at this time. Do they have one now?

<small>[ April 13, 2003, 06:50 AM: Message edited by: 02Silverado ]</small>

hodgeee

They told me that they have a panhand rod for the 98 and below models, and that it can be retrofited to the new models with a bracket. But for all purposes right now, they do not have one. They say that if you got the rear leafs and swaybar, that the panhand rod offers no gains.

hodgeee

Thanks Marc, I love the suspension too. But please do you have some pics, or are you willing to share with me some info on your turbo, that seems bad ***. I like the look of your truck also.

I got a before and after pics of the suspension.

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/photo...php?photo=7316

Its a toyota Forum, but I got my pics posted there.

redaddiction

iTrader: (12)

turbo are sitting on the floor or my bedroom since i dont have any money to put them on but this summer hopefully me and farmtruc will make some custom headers and we might also market them as a kit

marc

redaddiction

iTrader: (12)

sorry about giving you a hard time this should prove valuble to some people except me cuz i already have the complete setup and my review is

"it's pretty damn good"

lol

marc

hodgeee

Hey thanks, I thought that you already had it in. I was wondering how the turbo would be compared to the supercharger!