Hey guys, I'm just trying to pass on what it took to get the
Hotchkis to work on my truck. I can tell you that the standard Hotchkis V-8
kit will not work (front or rear) without some tweaking on regular cabs with
the 4.7L (and possibly the manual transmission). Hotchkis hasn't tested their
kit on a 4.7L regular cab (auto or manual) so I was their tester..hehehe. So
I'm just passing on what had to be done to get the performance and looks on
my truck. It will save regular cab 4.7L owners ALOT of hassle and a bunch of
shipping charges to get the right parts, etc. They (Hotchkis) are now aware
of the problem and were very helpful in getting my kit working correctly.
Fact of the matter is, the V-8 front springs will not compress under the
weight of the 4.7L/manual transmission combo (it's more than 50 pounds
difference than the R/T if you figure in the manual tranny). I plan on
weighing my Sport sometime next week on the same scale I weighed my R/T on
just for grins. But even adding the 45 pound Hotchkis front sway bar didn't
lower the front any. However, once we changed the V-8 springs in favor of the
V-6 springs, the front end came down to the 30" that the V-8 springs *should*
have accomplished. And, using the standard regular cab leaf springs, there
wasn't enough suspension travel to keep the shocks from bottoming out and the
axle will hit the bump stops during acceleration. There was alot of wheel hop
too under WOT acceleration. The rear axle would "load" and "unload" over
bumps which would unsettle the suspension causing it to toss the rear of the
truck uncontrollably. This was a direct result of the front sitting higher
than the rear and the pre-loading of the rear components. The rear shocks
would be "pre-loaded" causing the before mentioned problems. To keep the rear
end from pre-loading the shocks, first I had to lower the front to what
Hotchkis recommended 30". Only way that would work was to use the V-6
springs. The second thing that needed to be done was to remove ONE
"mini-leaf" spring (which is a built-in lowering block). There are two
mini-leafs and I only needed to remove one. Removing it, raised the rear end
about 1 inch. This effectively increased the suspension travel and loosened
the rear a little more (it was waaaay more stiff than the front). So to add
1/2 inch more suspension travel (just as a safeguard) we cut the bump stops
1/2". Adding the rear sway bar further lessened the wheel hop problem (it is
non existant now). So if you decide to get the Hotchkis kit and you have a
4.7L and a regular cab, I wouldn't order the standard V-8 kit. It will not
work :) You will need to specify whether or not you have a 4.7L and a regular
cab.
P.S. Any "load" in the truck bed just makes the problems I've described,
worse. I removed my spare and it helped a little as well.
James
'99 Flame Red RC Dakota R/T (ATI Procharged)
'01 Black 4.7L RC Dakota Sport (5-speed & 3.92 gear)
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