2004 Dodge Ram

When it comes to lowering a truck, there are two different routes you can take. You can grab every lowering part out there to get the truck as low as possible, which usually includes a set of airbags and a bunch of hardcore cutting of the truck's frame. The other road to go down would be to drop the truck with bolt-on components, just enough to make it handle like a sports car. No matter what you are into, both methods have one thing in common-lowering-and we are all about it.

We have access to an '04 Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab, and this time we borrowed it, we brought it back a little lower and a lot more fun. The truck in stock trim has a dual personality, when it comes to its ride. The front floats smoothly down the road like a '70s Cadillac, whereas the back buckboards like it has the spring pack of a 1-ton dualie. Needless to say, the ride left something to be desired and the performance was stock-and we can't have that.

Enter Hotchkis Performance, a name synonymous with performance suspension and known for the company's TVS kit. TVS stands for Total Vehicle System and is just what we need for this truck, a completely engineered kit. The TVS comes with everything needed, besides performance wheels and tires, to transform your stock truck into a cornering machine. In the box, you will find a set of progressive wound coils, Bilstein shocks, urethane isolators, bumpstops, and a fat sway bar for the front. For the back, you get a new set of leaf springs, Bilstein shocks, bumpstops, and one more sway bar. All the parts feature a slick black powdercoat finish and fit just like they should.

We had no idea how well the TVS setup would improve the Dodge, but we have worked with Hotchkis before with great results, and this time was no different.

One thing that is different about Hotchkis is the company's installation facility. Hotchkis now has an in-house shop that's strictly dedicated to installing suspension. So, if you are in the Southern California area, stop in and check it out. We rolled our Dodge in, right before lunch, and we were lowered and aligned by 4 p.m., which is not bad considering that we were shooting pictures and doing an impromptu brake job.

Once all of the parts were on the truck, not only is the center of gravity lower, but the front and rear feel balanced. We would like to give you some solid g-force numbers, but the new suspension system outperforms the factory rolling stock so much it wasn't even worth the test. We'll have numbers for you, once we pick some wheels and tires. Before this story takes a horrible turn for the worse, let's get on with the installation.

Before The Hotchkis kit we installed was just enough to make the truck level out. As you can see in the before shot, the rear end was way up in the air.

The Hotchkis TVS for Dodge Rams comes with everything needed to drop the truck 1-1/2 inches in the front and 4 inches at the rear. It also comes with a set of front and rear sway bars that are perfectly rated to make the truck corner nice and flat, without being too stiff. You will also get a set of Bilstein shocks that feature a specific valving set by John Hotchkis to work perfectly with all of the other components.

The Install

The truck was pulled into the new Hotchkis installation facility, and a few measurements were made before any work was done.	The endlinks of the factory sway bar were removed with a 16mm socket for the nut and a 15mm wrench to hold the shaft.	The sway bar brackets on the bottom of the frame came off with the help of an impact and a 15mm socket. Be careful once you get the last bolt out because the bar will want to fall on your head, and that would just suck.
The factory bumpstop cup was welded to the frame and had to be cut off with an air grinder. The new bumpstop will mount into a hole that is already in the frame below the factory cup.	The shock was next in line to be removed with a 13mm on the bottom and a 17mm for the upper nut.	The tie rod ends and the upper ball joint nuts (21mm) had to be removed, along with the brake calipers to pop the spindle free and get the spring out.