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Thread: Broken Hotchkis Leafs

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    Broken Hotchkis Leafs

    Well, my 03 has the full TVS suspension kit from Hotchkis. Been great for almost three years now, but this past week, the leafs on the driver's side broke. They both snapped right behind the U-Bolt bracket. It's sitting in the driveway waiting to see if Mark at LFP can do anything warranty wise. I'm hoping he can make something happen with Hotchkis, but it sounds like they don't even make them anymore. I looked on the forum and there have been a few guys with the same problem. Hotchkis replaced them, but I may be out of luck? Just in case Mark can't help me out, does anyone else that had them break and didn't get replacements have one side sitting around. I know its unlikely, but I thought I'd ask.

    -stumo

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    wow, don't hear of that happening often. Goodluck getting a replacement set

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    Last year I had to move out, so I asked my son to pack some stuff for me while I was away on a trip, well, he only packed one side of the rear Hotchkis I had, leaving me with only one side to remember.

    I will be glad to send it to you since the pair is long gone, the only problem I see is the shipping charges, but hey...I have the missing link.

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    Hey Hoffy, thank your son for me! Just kidding. Hey, I'll definitely take you up on the offer if Mark/Hotchkis can't help me out.

    thanx, -stumo

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    I'm willing to bet Hotchkis won't do anything but maybe a refund. They assured me they didn't have one set of leaves on their shelves. I have Belltech's now and am very pleased.

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    Yeah, I'm a little doubtful too, but can't hurt asking. Leaf Springs shouldn't break under normal usage.

    Hey, a couple of other things. I don't think I drove more than 5-10 miles with the broken leafs (didn't really notice till I saw it parked the next day), but what do you guys think about the shock on that side? Could it be damaged? Not sure if that would "bottom" the shock out or not. Got the Bilsteins when I got the TVS kit. Should the shock be okay even though it has a few miles on them with the broken leaf?

    Snipejdm-
    If I end up having to get the Belltechs, do you have any idea if they lowered the back the same amount as the Hotchkis? I had my '03 sitting perfect with just the leafs.
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    I can't really say if it lowered it the same since the Hotchkis parts were on my Lightning.

    And do you have aftermarket shackles on that truck? It looks low for just leafs in the back. My belltechs alone didn't lower my Harley that much.

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    Hmmm, I wonder if Hotchkis offered different lowering heights? Anyone know?
    I didn't have to install lowering shackles to get it to sit the way it is in the picture. Just the leafs and Bilsteins.
    Looking at my notes, when I installed the kit, the rear dropped 4.25". Is it possible that Hotchkis gave me leafs for a Lightning? Would that explain the extra drop?...Actually, would that explain why they broke?
    Here's a shot of just the rear.
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    .
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    Stumo, Did you get the original TVS kit or 2nd release?

    I remember Hotchkis told me that they had to change their vendor that made the rear leafs cause they had problems with it. My truck was the actual prototype for the 2nd release.

    Here's a link:
    http://www.nhtoc.com/vbforum/2000-20...area-asap.html

    Also, the TVS kit should only drop it 1.5 all around. I actually put my belltech shackles back in with the drop leafs. This is the picture without the shackles. It's just the Hotckis kit. And your's definitely sits lower than mine.

    Another option for you to do is go down to Hotckis. They're located in Socal...
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    Must have been the first release. I got the kit in November of '06.
    Something weird going on for sure, 1.5" is a lot diff than 4.25"!

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    The hotchkis kit is 1.5" front, 2.5" rear for a 2000-2002 HD. The 03's sat 1" higher in the rear, so the hotchkis kit would be 1.5" front, 3.5" rear from stock, or the same look as a 1.5" front, 2.5" rear drop on a 00-02.

    Even L spec leafs on a HD wouldn't lower it that much. It'd make for a bouncy ride, but not add an extra inch of drop. I had the L spec hotchkis leafs on my HD, and before that RobW had them in his 02HD and put like 80k miles on them, so even if they were L spec they shouldn't have broken.

    Did you buy your truck new? It's got to have some other sort of lowering device on the rear. Either hangers, or the shackles weren't factory to begin with.

    The belltech leafs should lower the rear 3" on a 00-02, so thats actually an extra 1/2 inch over the hotchkis leafs, but I believe they were discontinued too

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    Well, it's possible that the previous owner lowered the rear, but when I got it, he said it was all stock. When I did the install, the hangers and shackles looked stock.
    Possible that the leafs were indeed bad metal and that's why it sat lower and finally broke?

    The ride was definitely not bouncy. I've had several guys ride in it after the install and said it was way better than their stock trucks.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Harley#356 View Post
    The belltech leafs should lower the rear 3" on a 00-02, so thats actually an extra 1/2 inch over the hotchkis leafs, but I believe they were discontinued too

    Discontinued recently? I just bought mine a couple months ago. Granted they weren't "Harley F150" springs, but they were F150 lowering springs with a spring rate comparable to the Hotchkis for the Harley. That info is one of the threads I started somewhere in this forum.

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    Quote Originally Posted by stumo View Post
    Well, it's possible that the previous owner lowered the rear, but when I got it, he said it was all stock. When I did the install, the hangers and shackles looked stock.
    Possible that the leafs were indeed bad metal and that's why it sat lower and finally broke?

    The ride was definitely not bouncy. I've had several guys ride in it after the install and said it was way better than their stock trucks.
    Get us a pic of your hangers and shackles. We'll be able to tell with one look. Aftermarket pieces can look stock with lowering components, so I still think it already had something in it.

    Quote Originally Posted by snipejdm View Post
    Discontinued recently? I just bought mine a couple months ago. Granted they weren't "Harley F150" springs, but they were F150 lowering springs with a spring rate comparable to the Hotchkis for the Harley. That info is one of the threads I started somewhere in this forum.

    I think they were just recently discontinued. If they weren't then thats a good sign, but I thought I read they were

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