Paul,
Thanks for the information, I really appreciate it. I had planned on
switching to the hotchkis setup when I lowered my truck this summer. I've
already got the springs sitting on a shelf in my garage. I just figured
that since I had broken an endlink that I'd replace them both and while I
was in there I'd throw on some poly bushings since my old stock ones were
shot as well. That's when I ran into the problem. I called my speed shop
guy and he's gonna take the bushing kit back and mic the bar for me and get
me the proper kit. I figure that this should do me pretty good until I can
scrape together the cash to get the hotchkis kit.
-- -Josh 2000 Dakota CC 3.9L<Tubamirbls@aol.com> wrote in message news:17b.140f798e.2b4da654@aol.com... > > Hi Josh > I have a 2k CC V6 also however mine came with F&R stabilizer bars. At > about 15k mi I replaced both bars and all 4 shocks with a kit from Hotchkis. > Included with the new bars were poly bushings. Shocks are Bilstein. I've > now gone 47k mi and the suspension is very tight. The original front bar as > I recall was about 1.25 inch OD and the rear about 3/4". The Hotchkis > replacements are 1.50 and 1". I think the rear bar increase in size has the > most telling effect on handling and just straight away riding. While I've > not measured them I doubt the original equipment R/T bars are this thick in > either instance. > You can make a noticable difference in your original equipment bar > performance by replacing its rubber bushings and end link bushings with poly. > Most speed shops carry these or have vendors from whom they can get them. > The rubber mounts have a lot of "give" and get worse as mileage accumulates. > I read somewhere once that replacing rubber with poly gives the same handling > result as increasing a 1 1/4" bar to a 1 3/8" bar (both in rubber). 3yrs ago > when I got my Hotchkis conversion the bill came to about $600. > The Hotchkis conversion makes a very substantial improvement in > controlling body lean in cornering. If you ever pull a trailer it also helps > keep the rear of the truck from wanting to "wag its tail" quite so much as > the trailer tends to pull from side to side. It gives a slight increase in > "road feel" through the steering (this is due to the replacement of rubber > with poly) but the ride tends to be more truck-like too. > > Paul Sahlin
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