Dude, the grief was all in good fun. And actually helpful, in that it made me think more about the issue. I think I was subconsciously comparing the closeness of the front stops with the rears. The front suspension at the bump stops, of course, are not linear, whereas the rear is. Duh. I think my head is right on that issue now. I will probably just put the stock front bump stops on the rear for now.

I must admit that I do not know whether I have been hitting the bump stops. I am ashamed to admit that I don't know what it feels like and have no reference point. Obviously, it should feel like bottoming out, but I never really noticed any sensation like that, even though it must have happened frequently.

I'm thinking that I would like to mount a video camera down there to do some before-and-after video. Just getting ready to install Ruslow's panhard and Metco lower links. Would really like to see what's going on down there. I spent a couple of days under the truck this weekend just looking around, lubing, tightening, etc. Really enjoyable to spend some quality time with my toys.

 

Tim and aus6321 - I have the Hotchkis rears also along with the QA1's. I can say that driving town I've never hit the bumpstops, or if I have it's been just barely so that it is not noticable.

If you ever see 99'-00', they're bump stops are much much shorter.

All I did was cut 2 ribs off my stock ones. The reason I did that is because of the affect the reduced suspsension travel had on hauling stuff. I know the truck can easily handle a couple 100lb's of junk in the bed, but with the reduced suspension travel depending on weight the the truck would either sit on the bump stops or bounce off them on every little bump. So I just cut them b/c it the truck does get used to haul

 

Yuo can tell when you bottom out when you go over a bump and feel/hear what sounds like a "bang" from the rear.

I've got one dip near me that does it even in my unloaded bed on my ROUSH setup.

Daniel

 

I am running the same Hotchkis/QA1 setup, and I left my stock bump stops on. After about a week I swapped the OEM bump stops out with some nice urethane stops from Energy Suspension (Auto Zone $12), and that was when I found out what bottoming out felt like, due to the fact that my truck no longer bottomed out.

Tim,
Are you still working on the “bump steer” issues? I would like to go about 1 inch lower all the way around.

 

Thanks for the tip, Aryton (great nym, by the way).

I recently bought some used DJM upper and lower control arms--2" drop. I am going to fit some adjustable spring seats so I can tune the drop for practicality and handling. Before I do that, I will have to work out the bump steer issues. No one has been able to provide any information on curing this, which seems surprising to me. I may be such a newbie to lowering that I can't feel hitting the bump stops, but the bump steer was obvious to me in the first mile of driving after the Hotchkis springs were installed.

If you find a solution, please post the imformation here.

Thanks,
TLS

 

I was not sure if I was bottoming out either, until I swapped the stops. I was expecting a “bang” I guess. I never noticed anything unless I was backing out of the driveway or going over very rough pavement. I confess that the initial reason I changed the OEM stops was that I thought they ugly. Then I realized the difference. DOH!
The Energy Suspension stops have a shorter bolt, so you have to lose the bracket that Ford put on. I have no idea what the bracket is for, other than to keep the OEM stop from spinning.