I am looking at buying the hotchkis (TVS) handling system for my 03 2wd Supercrew and had a couple of questions. The kit comes with 2" drop coils, 3" drop leafs, and new front and rear sway bars. First ?, How is the ride quality of this kit? Second, What kind of weight should i be able to tow? From what is understand since this is my first truck i am going to lower, Hotchkis is one of the better manufactuers of lowering suspensions, right? I will be running either 275/45/20 or 285/50/20's, any suggestions would help me out alot.

derrick

 

I purchased the Hotchkis rear leaf 3" drop springs for the specific purpose to drop the truck and not lose any payload capacity with my 2001 Supercab V6 F150. The Hotchkis springs do this, and most don't...and that is good. Yet on my truck those springs caused a rough riding condition (on the freeway especially) that was unbearably harsh. When I contacted Hotchkis about this, they said it was not the first time they'd heard that, but their products are not made for comfort, but performance.

I knew this...so I had to either accept it, or drop the rear a different way. I ended up dropping the rear a different way, since I needed a more comfortable ride. It also turned out that I had some balance problems with my tires too, which must have been part of the pronounced discomfort.

There are others who have purchased these and did not have this problem. So, that is just my 2 cents, and that is all it's probably worth!

Good Luck.

 

I've used them and I thought the ride was fine, in fact, they're in the classifieds right now (springs only). The only reason I took them off was that I didn't like my truck being lowered like I used to. I now prefer the taller ride height. The ride was fine for me (I thought the ride was pretty close to stock) and I used the Edelbrock L spec shocks. Just make sure that you use the new bump stops on the front or it will definitely ride harsh.

 

Are there any limitations on what shocks and struts you can use with the Hotchkis kit? I'm planning on lowering the back of mine with shackles and see how I like it, otherwise I'm going with the Hotchkis Kit and I'd like to use Bilstein shocks and struts with them (I've used Bilstein's on several of my vehicles and I'm very happy with them).

 

I would use Edelbrocks, or the Hotchkis Bilsteins. The next step up are QA1s. I'm selling my Hotchkis leafs and coils if you're interested. We're both in Dallas so there would be no shipping.