This may be a dumb question, but did 1992 Aerostars come with swaybars?

 

i believe all aerostars have a sway bar, small though it may be. ford calls it a "front stabilizer bar". which is supposed to control body side roll. you should see it going across the front suspension, a twisting tubular bar,linking the right and left lower control arms. it is held to the frame by two brackets, going through two large rubber bushings,(these bushings are the thing to check, if they are worn or cracked they need to be replaced. mine were done last year.. finally then the van no longer felt like it was going to tip over on turns. rick

91 aerostar xl, ext
4.0 litre 183 thou miles and going.........

 

...and to add to that, I believe that they didn't come with rear swaybars, but that Addco has one and is supposed to make the handling much better.

I think that Addco has a beefier front one, too. Once I pay some bills, I may look into getting those...

Are you asking because your handling is bad, or just idle curiosity?

 

Both....moms van likes to sway and I'm afriad to take turns with it the same way that I did with a 1978 E-250 loaded with tools.

 

Just took my 1995 aerostar 4.0 ext sport to Oklahoma and back, and I will be upgrading to Addco....both front and rear....horrible 6000 mile trip.

 

I replaced the sway bar links on my 94 Aerostar for about $15.00 and 30 minutes of my time. It really improved the handling, I don't have to fight it around corners at 75 mph. The rubber bushings on the old links were misshapen and very hard. I haven't replaced the large rubber bushings on the sway bar itself. probably should have done that while I had the links off.

 

I replaced everything before my trip.....still too much, and the rear is all over the place....

 

As much as we like our 95 for all its good features, high speed handling and cornering are not an attribute of the Aerostar. No question that sloppy sway bar links and bushings will degrade handling, but I recall even when ours was new it never handled on the highway any where near as well as some of the lower sitting minivans.

 

I respectively disagree about the handling...I have an all wheel drive shorty with new springs and shocks all around and i think it handles very well...i get off exit ramps at speeds faster than a lot of cars and the van remains very composed.... if you read this review of a 94 ext you'll see the reviewer mentions the handling cornering and handling were the areas where our aerostar really shone

 

I've heard lots of complaints about Aerostar ride, handling, cornering and tires. I have a like-new '86 XLT with 183,000 mi that I bought new, and it rides great and corners as well as anything I've ever owned. And I drive FAST. Here's how: Tires are the #1 thing. I finally broke down and at 80,000 put Michelin XH4 treads on it, despite the $20/tire higher cost. One of the best investments ever. They were awesome for both handling, traction and comfort. They are now gone, and the Michelin X-1 set I just put on (purchased as the Sears Agility tire) are nothing short of fantastic (the X-1 superceded the XH4 I am told). My van came with 205/75R14, and I'm now running 215/70R14 at 35 psig on OEM aluminum wheels. The speedo is 4% fast, but that's a small price to pay, and it helps keep me under the limit. Tires alone won't do the whole job. Before I started with Michelins, I was replacing stabilizer bushings every 10,000 miles. Before my first Michelins, my search for a good bushing led me to the NAPA 265-1285 link kit. I've replaced them only once since then. To complete the picture, three years ago I finally broke down after many years of idle threats and added a Hellwig rear sway kit, via JC Whitney (Note: the U-bolts were too short for the axle, which Hellwig replaced immediately.) I should have spent the $100 over 15 years ago --- rear sway disappeared and the remaining little front sway was gone, also. Ford should have included this jewel from the factory. So there you have the solution: good sway bar bushings in front, a good rear sway bar, and Michelin X-1 tires all around will have you looking for curvy roads.

 

Stephen do you or anyone one have an opion on wich rear sway bar would be better the Hellwig or the addco ....the sizes are different....

 

I did a comparison at the time and selected the Hellwig, but I cannot recall the specific reason why. I can tell you that the installation was very smple, the unit fit without any problems once I got the proper length U-bolts, and the torsional ridgidity of the anti-sway bar appears as good as it can be without being too stiff. I just reviewed the Addco anti-sway bar info for the 86-97 Aerostar, and it appears identical to the Hellwig on my van in all respects. I wonder if the same mfgr makes them both! Unless you can identify a true difference, I suggest using price or convenience as the deciding factor.

 

Correction on my earlier reply: I pulled the paperwork and the Hellwig Sport-Tech 7529 on my Aerostar is 7/8" Dia per their current spec sheet, whereas the ADDCO is 1-1/4". Wow! The ADDCO will be 4 times stiffer than the Hellwig. I'm glad I didn't get the ADDCO. I use my van for people-hauling, and I believe the ADDCO would be too rigid for comfort in the back seat. I believe I would have traded swaying for jolting. Keep in mind that the wider Michelin XH4 had already calmed down the swaying a lot, so I only needed a little help in the rear.

However, if I had an extended van and pulled a heavy trailer, I would opt for the stiffer ADDCO.

Sorry if I misled you.

 

Sorry, I screwed up.