Hotchkins sway bars?

[j4nash]

I am looking into getting a pair of Hotchkins sway bars is there any group purchases going on now and what is the best price I can get them for.

[DanY]

I'm not aware of any group purchases.

 

The cheapest price that I could find on the web

was from TByrne at $480.

 

I did get lucky a couple of weeks ago and TByrne

had a 10% off sale. Total was $464 with shipping.

I ordered them on April 4th and am still waiting for

them to ship.

 

If you're patient, I'm sure TByrne will run another

special.

[DanY]

My swaybars from TByrne arrived this week and I did the install yesterday.

 

One suggestion is to go to Hotchkis website and print out the instructions

with color photos. The small black and white instructions included with

the bars are hard to read.

 

The front bar went in fine. The silicone grease used for the bushings is

nasty sticky stuff. Instructions say WD-40 will clean it and it does. This

grease is Energy Suspensions Formula 5 Prelube. I assume this means

that the bushings are from Energy Suspensions. All bushins have grease

fittings, but I need to figure out what kind of grease to use. Formula 5

isn't available in grease gun cannisters.

 

The rear bar was a bit of a bear. I centered the rear dogbone on the

round frame crossbrace as shown in the instructions. I wore a lot of

steel shavings drilling the frame. Also the frame is double thick on the

front bracket hole.

 

My biggest problem was sliding over the gas tank to get the driver's

side bracket backing plate into the frame. I supported the tank

with 2 jacks and a long piece of kitchen countertop scrap.. One

suggestion is when you support the tank don't cover the tank

straps with the wood. It would have been much easier to slide the

tank if I could have completely removed the straps. The way I did

it I had to try to get enough slack on the straps to slide the tank.

 

Total install time was around 4 hours. I did it in my garage with

the truck on 2 jackstands (front or rear).

 

The rear bar is pretty close to the axle shock mounts but I guess

this is normal.

 

Driving impressions: These things are great!! The trucks corners

much flatter. Ride quality doesn't appear to be afffected at all.

 

If you have a stock ride height truck, I highly recommend them.

This is the best handling mod I can think of short of lowering.

 

I hope Hotchkis works out new endlinks for those with lowered

trucks.

[BenKey]

Glad to hear it! Those things will give you much better handling than just lowering. Lowering in most case will only slightly reduce body roll. You have the best mod for that. Plan on getting a set one day, myself. Hotchkis is the best IMO.