Hotchkis suspension upgrade kits

[UserName]

Hi. Has anyone had any experience with these kits? I am interested in an upgrade that does not extend to installing a new K member set up. Cheers.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

the adjustable upper control arms & hollow swaybars are awsome

 

[71solo2challenger]

^ I agree!

I'm slowly using their parts (I'm ordering the "kit" piecemeal) and the construction and finish is first rate! So far just the rear sway bar is installed and it made a HUGE difference in how the car handled. I have a 1.125 front sway (addco) and 1" t-bars, and stock rear springs. Next up is installing their UCAs and strut rods.

 

[Brads70]

I'm using there upper control arms and both front and rear sway bars. Nice stuff! Light too! Also running the Bilstein RCD shocks.
If your serious about handling you will need to to get the bump steer out of the front suspension though. Here is what I did?
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=73985.0

 

[challenger440]

I've been looking at the Hotchkis kits too, didnt know you could buy them piece-meal!

I had a related question about suspension upgrades. I would like to start with my rear suspension first. Does anyone know of any other options for "bolt-on" upgrades? Would like to know if there's some better more in-depth kits out there for full rear end suspension upgrades.

If there's no silver bullet I'm great with that...just wanted to check the brain trust here at the FEBO in case I was overlooking something.

BTW, will any reseller part-out the Hotchkis kit or do I need to go somewhere specific? Thanks!!

 

[Brads70]

You can buy parts separate right from Hotchkis if you want. I bought mine from Matt's classic bowtie's he was cheaper than Hotchkis.He is usually on e-bay but he will cut you a better deal if you deal with him directly. If your improving your handling one piece at a time( as budget allows)and the biggest bank for the buck, I'd suggest starting at the front with bigger sway bars and torsion bars. Then good shocks ( Bilstein RCD?) The rear sway bar I would do last.

Also check out PST there sway bar looks exactly the same as Hotchis stuff? Cheaper too.
http://www.p-s-t.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7085/.f?sc=12

 

[challenger440]

Cool, thanks for the info. The Hotchkis stuff looks killer. Will check out places other than Hotchkis to buy it...didnt think they were sold through resellers. Sweet!

 

[Adrian Worman]

Even the nationals like Summit can do reasonable prices on Hotchkis.
I used a pair of their 1.03" torsion bars and lowered ride height E-max rear springs and just used cheaper smaller components to finish off the rest.
Its worked brilliant and my Challenger corners flat and hard even with an all iron RB hanging its lardy arse all over the front wheels:icon_mrgreen:
The biggest gains will be from correct camber and caster and some modern wide low profile rubber........spent ages setting the u.c.a's up and its paid off with a really good planted feel and loads of front end grip, will be even better when I take some weight out of the front end

 

[RexDub]

I've read a little about the Hotchkis, are they worth the money?

 

[Adrian Worman]

I've read a little about the Hotchkis, are they worth the money?

I think they are cos they worked out perfect for me!
Have a look at the Hotchkis video for the E-max Challenger, you'll be very impressed.
I used Mopar Perf torsion bars and leafs before and I'm not happy with them, a good alternative brand would be Firm Feel, don't forget PST! I brought all the lighter components from their catalogue, a link to the website site the right of this page

 

[challenger440]

I checked Summit and they have pretty good deals and it all ships for free. Getting the rear spings and sway bar along with some other stuff. My UCA's wont take the full torque needed for the ball joints so am upgrading to the Hotchkis version of those too. Bummer that my originals are trashed but will be happy to get new improved ones. Upgrading to disc brakes front & back too and just realized I needed to upgrade to 15" wheels. Getting expensive, but what's new. Would like to get the torsion bars & front sway bar at the same time but like I said....expensive. Getting exciting thinking about how it will handle with the new Hotchkis parts installed, especially after reading all the good news. BTW, I saw that E-Max Challenger a while back which got me looking at Hotchkis. That thing is sick!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvnRmtsQJM8

 

[Brads70]

PST who is a sponsor here, looks like they have the same parts as Hotchkis? Have a look? ( sway bars)
Yes the Hotchkis parts work great but wow are they expencive. But as the old saying goes.... "going fast costs money... how fast do you wanna go?"

 

[challenger440]

Thanks for the tip. Reminds me of a similar saying, "you get what you pay for". I was high on PST and ready to order a front end kit from them, but they couldnt tell me what brand of parts (ball joints, tie rods, etc.) they used in their kits and that worried me. I love their marketing and the claims of their bushing technology but not being able to identify their own parts did not provide much comfort. It's like going to a restaurant and them not being able to tell you what's in their food. It's really not fair of me to disparage them since I have never received anything from them, but that was my thought process. Just ordered the Hotchkis torsion bars, UCA's, rear springs and sway bar sets along with some other non-hotchkis goodies from Summit.

 

[RexDub]

By the looks of the kit, the price if very reasonable, when I get my 70 Challenger Im going to get one of these, I've been a fan of these since I heard about them!

 

[Adrian Worman]

Firm Feel are another good source of quality parts, especially their braced lca's and uca's and sway bar kits that fit arms that have no sway bar brackets, there's plenty of cars out there without them.
The biggest gains in using those tubular uca's is the 5 extra degrees built in to them, but you can easily replicate those results with Moog offset bushes.
I think that any bodies first step in suspension upgrades should be decent torsion bars and springs first, QA1 shocks and all new poly bushes, then add all the little trick bits as you go.
You probably find that way you may stop after the basic steps cos the car drives and handles brilliant even without sway bars!

 

[73 kooda]

Mopar springs are 109 ea. On summit. Are hotchkis worth the 500 per pair. Are they worth double the money. And can someone tell me what staggered hemi heavy duty springs are? PST sells them. I know "frickin newb"... Hey least i do all my own work...

 

[Adrian Worman]

Mopar springs are 109 ea. On summit. Are hotchkis worth the 500 per pair. Are they worth double the money. And can someone tell me what staggered hemi heavy duty springs are? PST sells them. I know "frickin newb"... Hey least i do all my own work...

In a word, yes, the MP springs are absolute crap, sag in a year and don't even work well when new. As someone's already said on this these, you pay for quality, yes the Hitchkis are expensive but they work very well, look at Firm Feels springs, they are good value and top quality too:icon_biggrin:

 

[Adrian Worman]

Oh yeah, sorry forgot about the staggered question, these springs are built with more leaves on the passenger side to try and deal with the intense torque loading during launches, also known as Super Stock springs:icon_rabbit:

 

[Brads70]

I think the SS springs have a 2" shorter front segment. Not a big deal but it requires different front spring hangers. I'm wanting these composite rear springs. I like the 10 lbs per spring part!
Dr Diff sells spring mounting kits of various configurations , offset, SS springs, stock etc...
Currently I have new ESPO ( springs and things ) plus 1 1/2" on mine now they work ok, but heavy.
http://www.springsnthings.com/chrysler-suspension-parts





http://www.hypercoils.com/leaf-springs.html

http://www.hypercoils.com/catalog.html#Page10 click on pages 17-18 to see the Chrysler spec springs...

 

[73 kooda]

Thanks for the info..definitely won't waste my
Money on the Mopar stuff. I'll be looking into the firm feel and see what they got..hotchkis is top notch and top dollar. Guess I better start saving.... These cars are NEVER done!!!...