Re: Suspension Choices - Just shocks, or whole hog?

From: Josh Battles (jbattles@bankfinancial.com)
Date: Wed Jun 09 2004 - 10:14:34 EDT


"Robert Schultz" <not_robert_schultz@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> After ~72,000 miles (or 122K km) the stock shocks are well past their
> usable life. The trucks wallows on uneven pavement and the front tires
> skip when turning on broken surfaces.
>
> So, time for new shocks, but I figured that I could actually get a full
> lowering kit with new springs and shocks for not too much more than just
> the shocks. Shock would be $400-600 CDN and a Belltech kit is $400US.
> The Hotchkis TVS is $800US.

much love for Hotchkis, that's what I've got. I did the 2/3 and got all my
stuff slightly used from listers.

> I need help with the options though:
>
> 1. Shocks only.
> From the responses in previous posts, there are tons of good choices.
> If I pair this up with new poly bushings the ride should be back to
> normal or fairly improved. Easy and safe.

Shocks make a pretty big difference in ride characteristics by themselves.
If you're just looking to firm up your ride, by all means get some stiff
shocks and call it a day.

> 2. Lowering kit.
> This problem I have here is the reduction in load capacity and
> especially towing. I do tow up to the max a number of times per year. I
> gather from my (limited) research that the majority of the towing issue
> is due to the pinion angle and increased wear in the drive line. Is that
> correct? If so, doesn't a shim resolve this? If so, why didn't Dodge
> just do this for the R/T?

When my truck was lowered, they set the pinion angle to be the same as it
was before it was lowered. There's a few shims that they had to put in to
do it, but all is well, and for the past 30k miles i've had no issues
because of the lowered stance.

> I have some other questions about lowering. I was looking at two kits, a
> Belltech kit, springs and Nitto shocks, but it's a 2" and 4" drop. That
> seem a bit too much in the rear of a truck that seems to sit fairly
> level right now. The other choice was Hotchkis with a 2" and 3". This
> seemed a little more reasonable. But there were some postings about how
> harsh the ride got. How harsh is harsh? Bad enough to require a kidney
> belt? Can anyone compare it to a late model sports sedan? I've spent
> time in two late model Mazda 626s recently and their fairly firm and you
> can definitely feel the road. That's fine as far as I'm concerned.

I've got a Hotchkis setup with Monroe Reflex shocks on all 4 corners. It
rides pretty hard, harder than my buddy's Z28 Camaro, and harder than my
dad's BMW Z3 roadster. The harsh ride is only really apparent when you go
over large rough areas. (All the roads around my school suck, and it feels
like my teeth are going to come out of my head when I drive out there) For
the most part though, it rides nice, the girlfriend has no complaints, other
than that I take corners too fast for her. ;-) The only negative that
I've noticed is that it does "hobby-horse" on the highway if the road is
uneven or wavy, as the springs are pretty stiff.

> Is there anything else I should be aware of? How much do you have to pay
> attention to driveway ramps etc to keep from damaging frame or body
> work? Are 'properly' suspended vehicles going to blast past when I have
> to go over the railroad tracks :-(? Are gravel roads out of the picture
> with their washboard and potholes?

I'm always scared that I'm going to hook on something or bottom out, and the
truth of the matter is that I've only bottomed once since I've lowered it
(before I replaced the stock shocks) and that was just the tops of the tires
hitting the tops of the wheelwells. I can go over speedbumps and railroad
tracks just the same. I can't however go through automatic carwashes
anymore. Because the truck is lower to the ground and the way the Hotchkis
leaves work, my traction bars are slightly lower to the ground than they
were before the drop. The left side one tends to get hung up on the track
for that little device that cradles your left rear tire. They actually had
to shut the whole carwash down once. oops.

> Can a reasonably competent shade=tree mechanic do the work without a
> hoist? Floor jack, hand tools etc.?

It's not that hard, but I be scared of coil springs so I had mine done. It
only cost me about $400 for the install at my local friendly dodge
dealership. They even aligned it *exactly* to the fun specs that I gave
them. The measurements were dead on perfect, and I've experienced no
abnormal tire wear, even running 1.5 degrees of negative camber. My tires
wore flat and even.

Anyway, you could do it with hand tools, but you'll need to take it in for
an alignment when you're done, and you'll definately need a pinion angle
gauge.

-- 
- Josh
Lowered 2000 Dakota CC 3.9L
www.geocities.com/lenny187/dakota.html
www.omg-stfu.com



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 01 2004 - 00:15:16 EDT