I was wondering if I should replace my orginal upper and lower control arms or just clean them up and put new bushings on them. Im thinking on buying all new. I was looking at Hotchkis for there rear suspension kit. Any feed back?:)

I was looking at Hotchkis for there rear suspension kit. Any feed back?:)You've come to the right place :) Welcome to Team Chevelle.

The best setup for a driver would be new RUBBER bushings in the stock uppers, and new RUBBER bushings in stock "F41" boxed lower arms. The arms and bushings need to be somewhat flexible for the rear suspension to move properly.

The Hotchkis setup, and others like it is nothing short of horrible. Just use the "search" function at the top of the forum and search "Bind" and "Poly". You could read for days on why those just don't work well.

Rigid arms with stiff bushings ruin your ride-quality, handling, and are a total waste of money.

I have to chime in on this subject, again, as it comes up fairly often. I happen to like the Hotchkis rear lower control arms. They are a bargain at about $225.

I have installed a set on my Chevelle and it launches straight and true with zero wheel hop. Before the install is was wobbly and unpredictable.

There have been several guys on TC talk bad about the Hotchkis lower control arms and have claimed "Scientific" proof that they suck.

I would like to see John Hotchkis test (drag strip, skid pad and slalom) a couple of Chevelles and post the results here at TC. This test would put an end to this controversy!

JMO! :D

Chris, The lowers just suck to a much lesser extent than the uppers ;)

You can get an equal arm for $99 from UMI if rigid & poly is what you want, so I wouldn't consider the Hotckiss ones a "bargain" for over double the price.

Sorry Derek, I disagree. But thats okay I guess. To each his own. They work on my Chevelle. :D

Sorry Derek, I disagree. But thats okay I guess. To each his own. They work on my Chevelle. :D
Chris,
I've "fought" this same battle. :( And I agree with you 100%. To each his own.
Briefly, in my STRAIGHT line application, poly works fine.
Personally, I don't care about what MY Chevelle pulls on a G pad.
Sixty foot times is where I'm at.
And on the street, if I was worried about handling, I wouldn't be running drag radials and skinnies. ;) Or carrying a heavy azz big block on the nose.
And that's all I have to say about that...

Sixty foot times is where I'm at.
Maybe you should tell these guys your 60' secrets, looks like they could use some help ;) :p http://www.wolferacecraft.com/7s.aspx

Every car on that page runs a converging 4-link with stock geometry, very similar to a Chevelle's rear suspension, and every car on that page also runs spherical bearings at all 8 pivot points.

This isn't meant to be a fight, just helping someone make an informed decision. All of the rear suspension parts we pro-tourers recommend for a good handling chevelle were originally designed for drag-racing.

Derek69SS:


Maybe you should tell these guys your 60' secrets, looks like they could use some help http://www.wolferacecraft.com/7s.aspx

Every car on that page runs a converging 4-link with stock geometry, very similar to a Chevelle's rear suspension, and every car on that page also runs spherical bearings at all 8 pivot points.

This isn't meant to be a fight, just helping someone make an informed decision. All of the rear suspension parts we pro-tourers recommend for a good handling chevelle were originally designed for drag-racing.

Derek,

Wow you are really taking it personal aren't you. By the way those are Full on RACE CARS. Have you even been to a Texas "King of the Hill" or "Clash of the Titans" race? Those are not stock cars by any means. And no those are not street cars. :confused:

I have no bad comments about Wolfe Race Craft, other than those are not stock suspession parts. Only the name implys those are stock because of the racing rules. They do make nice parts.

Derek, How FAST is your car? What are YOUR 60' times? I would venture to say that Bill's Chevelle is probably much faster than yours!

Come on man. What is the point in all this. The original question by 396chevelle was if anybody liked Hotchkis parts. I'm cool with your opinion. So you found something differant that worked for you. :thumbsup: There are varying ways to build a killer Chevelle. Some like stock, some like show, some like go! By the way Derek, I think your Chevelle looks KILLER! :thumbsup:

Lets just stop this here and just all get along.

Happy Hot Rodding!!! :D

I have to chime in on this subject, again, as it comes up fairly often. I happen to like the Hotchkis rear lower control arms. They are a bargain at about $225.Not really, since they bind it all up

I have installed a set on my Chevelle and it launches straight and true with zero wheel hop. Before the install is was wobbly and unpredictable. I agree, they work for masking the poor geometry in a drag only application. Mechanically locking the suspension is great for A/S

There have been several guys on TC talk bad about the Hotchkis lower control arms and have claimed "Scientific" proof that they suck. Science usually doesn’t lie and in this case it isn’t a theory but an obvious prove able fact.

I would like to see John Hotchkis test (drag strip, skid pad and slalom) a couple of Chevelles and post the results here at TC. This test would put an end to this controversy!See below. I too would love to run his cars against mine in a side-by-side, might not help his Monday sales though

JMO! :DHe and many others including Doug at GW have been "invited" more than once to try and explain why the products they claim work so well have been proven not to both on the track and by basic logic. They never show....I wonder why?

Keep in mind straight line guys that topics discussed in here are typically “handling” oriented. The “what to buy to make car hook” threads wind up in performance.

Wow you are really taking it personal aren't you.

...those are not stock suspession parts. Only the name implys those are stock because of the racing rules.I'm not taking it personal at all. The first comment was meant as good-natured razzing, hence the smiley faces. :)

The "stock suspension" implies stock geometry, and all were C4L like our chevelles. I just wanted to show that what works for handling, in this case, also works for drag racing. Granted that's not always true (rarely is) but it works here.

As for my car, I'll come right out and admit it was painfully slow. It ran low 15s when it was still together (195,000 mile used smogger 400sbc, TH-350, and 3.08s). The body is off the frame now, and when it goes back together with an LT1 and 4L60e, I'm hoping for high 12s and 20mpg, with the emphasis on 20mpg. Should be done in a little over 2 months. I'm more concerned with keeping up with new BMWs on the road-course than my 1/4-mile time.

Poly in the lowers isn't too bad. There is very little bind in the lower arms anyway. The uppers need to turn and flex in too many directions to use poly bushings or a rigid arm.

I've looked into this extensively over the past 3 weeks. Been in the market for uppers and lowers for my 66 SS ragtop. Seems like all the aftermarket guys make quality products that work well, some just work alittle better than others. I wanted my chevelle to handle as well as it could in a straight line and in the curves. Poly ends seemed to be the greatest thing ever for a long time, not so much any more. There are tons of threads on this on here and in other forums so I'm not going to continue to beat a dead horse. I ended up buying the Currie a-body UCA and LCA with the johnny joints. I almost bought Hotchkis and UMI arms. I just liked the Currie ends the best, they have poly in them and a ball and allow the arms to articulate and not bind. I wouldnt be at all surprised if you saw Hotchkis offer a spearicle rod end (or similar) arm in the future.

As many of you know the Hotchis arms and others of their type work fine on straight line cars. They don`t even work that super bad going around corners so long as you only use the lowers and don`t drive the car near the ragged edge. But...pretty much all tubular arms with solid poly bushings on both ends are going to perform the same so you might as well get whatever maker has the best price. If you`re going to spend $225pr.,you might as well get the Currectrac arms that work just as well as the poly/poly arms in a straight line but have much reduced binding that lets the car ride and handle better. Same launches,better ride and better handling for the same price...no brainer. :)
For uppers STAY AWAY from solid tubular arms with poly bushings on both ends. They bind up the suspension big time and cause non linear binding and snap oversteer problems. No speculation here. I`ve experienced this myself on many occasions and it`s not fun. We`ve actually driven cars back to back with stock arms,solid poly/poly and Edelbrock/Currectrac adj. arms and the differences are profound! IMO either leave the stock ones on there with rubber bushings or go with the Edelbrock/Currectrac adj. uppers. If it`s a high horsepower and/or drag race application I`d use the Currie. They`re built like a tank compared to the Edelbrocks. If you already have solid tubular uppers with poly/poly and you like how they work I promise you`d like the Edelbrock/Currie adj. arms even better. Mark SC&C

Please don't yell at me if you think otherwise, I am a noob. But, after reading this post I was reading Summits catalog and came upon these Lakewook lift bar LCA. Now wouldnt these be the same as the Eldenbrock or Carrie but have the ability to force the rear down which is something that the other two and definatly not the Hotchkis can do? I am wondering for myself as well, as I am just in the stage of ordering all of my suspension parts for my 1970 Chevelle project.
p.s. Mark you seem to know what your talking about and I have been on your website and think I need some of your front adjustable CAs and need your advice on springs as I am confused in that place of the suspension.

For a drag car the UCA pivot relocation kits are great for moving the IC. You do not want to run them a car you intend to cruise, tour, auto-x, open track, or otherwise enjoy.