Chris (Superfords), I have a million pics of your truck on my computer, and I really like the stance. I know you have the Hotchkis springs/sways front and rear. I decided to go with 2" Belltechs in the front cuz I got them for cheap, but how much drop did you see with your Hotchkis coils? also, I am thinking about getting the rear leafs...how much drop did they give you, and are you still using the stock shackles/hangers? also are you happy with the ride & handling (firmer or the same as stock???) TIA and sorry for all the questions :o anyone else who has opinions on the Hotchkis stuff feel free to reply

 

I did the same Hotchkis springs as Chris (Superfords).
I did not do the swaybars yet, but I did redrill and move the rear swaybar links up on the frame to compensate for the drop. I plan to shorten the front endlinks next weekend. I also had to cut the rear bumpstops shorter to go with the rear drop, the front springs come with new bumpstops.

I kept the all the stock pieces for the rear, just changed the rear leafs. I am very happy with the looks and the ride of the truck. It lowered the rear to exactly match the front (leveled the truck) , so on yours you would have a slight rake because of your front springs. I didnt notice much of a ride difference, but I only had the truck for 12 days before I lowered it so I had not gotten used to it much at that time.

Hope this helps.

 

My Hotchkis drop was 1.25"/2" (front/rear). Noticeably stiffer then stock, even with QA1 shocks. But I think the handling improvements, the new stance and more stable feeling outway a slightly more bumpy ride.

 

thanks for the replies guys. would you think that the Hotchkis rear leafs being stiffer than stock would help or hurt dragstrip launches? or would it not matter

 

I wouldn’t run the Hotchkis leafs without the Hotchkis coils, as the kit is designed to work together, and the Hotchkis leafs are twice as stiff as stock. (180lbs vs. 300lbs)

 

Yea the front springs are okay. Stiffer than stock but not too bad.

 

TTT (I still want superfords to see this post)

 

I see the post!

Overall I am very pleased with my Hotchkis kit. I must be, it's the second one I've bought. The quality of the products is excellent. I think the ride quality is good, but can be slightly bouncy at speeds over 45mph. if you hit just the right kind of bump at the right speed it'll give you one good bounce out of your seat. For whatever reason this condition is not as noticeable on the '03 as it was on my '01 truck, but nonetheless it is still present. I purchased some adjustable QA1s in hopes of reducing this concern, but with the winter weather and all, I still haven't installed them so I cannot comment. I just think that the spring rates of the hotchkis may be a little overpowering for the rebound dampening of the stock shocks. I love the ride height. Traction does not seem to be a problem. So far, I have turned a best of 1.80 60ft with the '03 truck and have gotten 1.78 with the red truck, both had the same kit, these times were at different tracks too. The blue truck does have traction bars for whatever thats worth, the red truck did not. I don't have the measurements in front of me, but the I believe that the hotchkis kit lowered my truck by just slightly more than 1" in the front a little more than 2" in the rear. I think I posted the measurements on here when somebody else asked sometime back in Jan or Feb you might do a search and come up with some more accurate numbers. I use stock shackles. I think the ride height is very nice, it still looks like is has just a hint of rake to it. the rear is ever so slightly higher than the front. I prefer this, I have seen lots of dropped trucks that are lower in the rear than in the front. I don't care for this saggy bottom look, IMHO. I hope this helps.

later,
chris

 

thanks Chris, that is the info I was looking for I agree with you on the "saggy a$$" look, I want my truck to have a slight rake also. right now I have 2" western chassis shackles, and I wanted to add the 2" hotchkis leafs to that and run the shackles on the higher setting for a total of 3" of drop in the rear, and then go with the belltech coils in front for 2" of drop. I think this will be just the ticket, combined with the ride and handling of the hotchkis springs