O.K. after my traction arm disappointment last week , my mechanic now finds that after getting the rear end lowering done with the Belltech 3/4 kit , the Hotchkis swaybars (they are the versions that I bought with their lowering kit) no longer fit. A suggestion was made that we could have some new ones made up locally, but I don't know if we need to go that far if there is a fix. Having read some old posts about stock swaybars and 3/4 lowering, I know the stock ones can be cut and welded. Can anything similar be done to the Hotchkis'? I'd really hate to shelve another good part after using it less than 6 months on my truck.

Any ideas where to go from here?


Andrew

p.s. wait for the under bonnet pics of my truck, JL's ram-air together with all new braided cooling hoses everywhere, it looks trick!!

 

I believe the talk was about cutting(shortening) the end links, then welding the shortened parts of the end links back together. I don't know if it would be advisable to be cuttin' and weldin' on the sway bar itself.

 

yeah i just ordered the front and rear sway kit from hotchkis for a 3 inch lowered truck, i wonder if they are made different or just have shorter end links...??

 

Should just have to shorten the end links and dog-bones. I have them on my truck and see no reason why they won't work with shorter links.

 

I think you mean the 2" lowered truck bars that I've got, unless Hotchkis have some new ones for 3" and haven't updated their website yet.

I am now looking at getting the ends of links modified on the stock bars. As it stands according to my mechanic, there isn't much room for movement left after the 3/4 lowering, so their effect on handling will be vastly reduced over all.

 

I wasn't aware either Hotchkis even sold a three inch drop kit...

 

It is 3" for a regular F150, 2" for a Lightning because we're already 1" lower. Same bars.

The Hotchkis "lowered" bars are not different then the standard bars, just the endlinks that come with them are.

Daniel