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

From: Josh Battles (jbattles@bankfinancial.com)
Date: Thu Jun 10 2004 - 09:39:21 EDT


""Ned Buckmaster"" <Ned@Buckmaster.com> wrote in message
>
> I did the Hotchkis sway bars and shocks when I first bought my truck and
ran
> it like that for years. Early this year I installed the springs (and
> differently valved Bilstiens). The sway bars helped considerably over
stock,
> but don't come close to the entire combination. However, it is much
stiffer
> than the stock springs were. The Hotchkis springs come with 4 spacers on
> each side to adjust the ride height. Another plus is that the Hotchkis
> springs are much, much quieter than the stock springs were; I really had
no
> idea how noisy the stocks were until I switched them.

Maybe it's my location and the fact that Chicago salts like crazy in the
winter, but I've noticed that after winter my rear leafs got very noisy,
much more so than the stock ones. They creak like crazy over uneven
surfaces. I've lifted the truck and greased the ends of the springs and
that seems to solve the issue until the grease washes off. I've just
accepted it as something I have to deal with. <shrug>

> Another thing that surprised me; It becomes very difficult to get the
spare
> tire out with dual rear exhaust, tow hitch, and a lowered truck!

It's a chore to change diff fluid as well, before I could remove the spare
and sit under there. Now I've got to lay down whether the spare is there or
not.

> I haven't scraped anything yet, but the front license plate holder clears
> the sidewalk at Walgreens by about 1/4 inch. It IS much easier to wash
> now...

I scraped my license plate all over, until it finally gave up when it
encountered a big curb while I was backing (at a crazy angle, so i wouldn't
scrape). My friend (who's house we were at) picked it up and it's been
living in my backseat ever since.

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



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