Eliminating Wheel Hop - Hotchkis - 1970 Chevy Chevelle

Wheelhop breaks parts, slows your quarter-mile e.t.'s and makes your teeth chatter. And the more horsepower you're making, the more severe wheelhop usually is. Simply bolting on a set of made-in-Taiwan chrome traction bars (or similar items) may lessen the pogo-stick effect, but what you really need to do is replace the flex-prone O.E.M. suspension components and bushings with new parts that'll take the torque.

The folks at Hotchkis Performance have been working on the woes of wheelhop for years and have come up with a gaggle of goodies to get your car to hook. One prime king of wheelhop is our Cheap Street Chevelle project car. Our '70 Chevelle (and all '64-'72 GM A-bodies, for that matter) would not only hop, skip and jump on each dragstrip launch, it would also flounder aimlessly when navigating any sort of twisty canyon road.

Hotchkis has a suspension setup that gave us smooth launches along with great daily driveability--even on twisty roads. And here's the beauty of the Hotchkis kit: You can easily install the parts in your driveway with standard hand tools. Heck, even if you can't afford everything at once, Hotchkis sells the parts separately so you can build up as your budget allows.

1.We installed Hotchkis' complete rear trailing arm and bushing package (PN 1803) in our Cheap Street Chevelle. The package includes two lower trailing arms, two upper trailing arms and two trailing arm mount braces, along with all the necessary bolts and bushings. The bushings aren't just O.E.M. replacements; rather, they're made of polyurethane and are much beefier than the stock units. Notice how heavy-duty the trailing arms look; they won't flex and bend like the O.E.M. trailing arms will.
1.We installed Hotchkis' complete rear trailing arm and bushing package (PN 1803) in our C
2.After jacking up the rear of the car, place jackstands under the frame to securely hold the vehicle off the ground. Then put a floor jack under the rearend housing to hold it in place. To begin the swap process, remove the shock absorbers from the lower mounts. Then lower the floor jack, allowing the rearend to drop as much as it can. Remove each rear spring by prying up on the bottom coil to pop it out of its mount. This may sound difficult, but it's super easy--we had our springs out in less than five minutes. Remember, the more the rearend drops, the easier the springs are to remove.
2.After jacking up the rear of the car, place jackstands under the frame to securely hold
3.Once the springs are removed, jack the rearend up as high as it will go (but not far enough to raise the rear of the car). Loosen and remove the bolts on the lower trailing arms, then remove the lower trailing arms.
3.Once the springs are removed, jack the rearend up as high as it will go (but not far eno

4.Not all Chevelles have trailing arm mount braces (the braces were probably part of an optional suspension package), but if your car has the O.E.M. braces, remove them.
4.Not all Chevelles have trailing arm mount braces (the braces were probably part of an op
5.Apply a light coating of grease to the sides of the new polyurethane bushings, then install the new Hotchkis lower trailing arms in place of the O.E.M. units. Be sure to install the trailing arms so that the two holes (arrow) in the arms face rearward, toward the back bumper. The two holes on each arm are used to mount a rear anti-roll bar, if you so desire. Tighten the new (supplied) Grade 8 bolts finger-tight--the bolts will be torqued to spec later.
5.Apply a light coating of grease to the sides of the new polyurethane bushings, then inst
6.Once the new lower trailing arms are installed, remove the two smaller upper trailing arms. The upper trailing arms should come right off, but if they are stubborn, have a buddy wiggle the rearend slightly (or slightly raise or lower the rearend with the floor jack), as it will loosen the arms.
6.Once the new lower trailing arms are installed, remove the two smaller upper trailing ar

7.Installing the Hotchkis kit involves putting new polyurethane bushings in the rearend housing. To do so you must remove the crusty O.E.M. bushings. We found that hitting the bushings from the back side with a hammer will drive them out.
7.Installing the Hotchkis kit involves putting new polyurethane bushings in the rearend ho
8.Install the new bushing housing in the rearend only deep enough to have the housing's rib butt against the flange on the rearend. Note that once fully seated, the new bushing housing will stick out about one-half inch. Don't hammer directly on the bushing housing; rather, put a flat piece of metal or a block of wood against the bushing housing and then hit. Once in place, slip the new polyurethane bushing into the bushing housing.
8.Install the new bushing housing in the rearend only deep enough to have the housing's ri
9.Once the new polyurethane bushings are installed in the rearend, install the new upper trailing arms. The new upper arms should slip into place just as the old units mounted. Once again, only tighten the bolts finger-tight.
9.Once the new polyurethane bushings are installed in the rearend, install the new upper t

10.With both of the new upper and lower trailing arms in place, install the new Hotchkis trailing arm mount braces just as the O.E.M. units mounted. In some instances you may have to slightly dimple the floorboard to gain clearance for the new heavy-duty braces. The braces mount using the same bolts used to mount the upper and lower trailing arms. Once the braces are in place, torque the upper and lower trailing arm bolts to 70 lb-ft.
10.With both of the new upper and lower trailing arms in place, install the new Hotchkis t
11. Lower the floor jack, allowing the rearend to drop as far as it can. Then re-install the rear coil springs. Cheap Street Chevelle had worn-out rear springs that promoted wheelhop and let the rearend sag below the ride height of the front end. Thus, we upgraded to new heavy-duty 130 in-lb springs from Hotchkis. Re-installing the springs is easy; simply place the spring in its top location and then wedge the spring onto its mounting flange on the rearend housing. Sometimes it's easier to install the springs if a buddy pushes down on the rearend housing slightly as you position the coil spring.
11. Lower the floor jack, allowing the rearend to drop as far as it can. Then re-install t
12. Once the coil springs are in place, jack up the rearend about halfway through its "travel"--not dropped completely down or jacked all the way up. Then, re-install the shock absorbers. Our shocks were totally wasted. They were smashed, rusted and leaky, which indicated it was time for new units. Hotchkis recommends heavy-duty shocks from Tokico, so we upgraded while we were doing the rest of the suspension mods. No sense installing new heavy-duty parts and re-installing the used set of shocks. In any case, Hotchkis offers many varieties of Tokico shocks and can match them to your kit.
12. Once the coil springs are in place, jack up the rearend about halfway through its "tra

13.With all the parts in place, double-check torque on the bolts and then put the wheels/tires back on. Then, lower the car and take it for a test drive. Our Chevelle had hard-as-a-hockey-puck tires, so burnouts were no problem, but the new rear suspension eliminated our wheelhop woes. Plus, the car actually handled better, instead of wallowing and floundering each time we attempted to turn a corner.
13.With all the parts in place, double-check torque on the bolts and then put the wheels/t