You do not need the U bolts, Yes they are $30. I ordered them because the parts man told me I needed them. When I opened the box for the drag link bracket it had the U bolts and the nuts in the box.
The only thing that bracket lacks is a M12x1.75 nut to hold the stabilizer on.
There is not another brand of stabilizer that uses the Ford design. As I said I have tried several different ones over the 800,000 miles I have driven econolines and they don't work as well as the Ford design.
I found the moog gave me an unnatural steering reaction over bumps which only accomplished a different problem than I was having before I put it on.
With the Ford its a completely different vehicle now.