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You are REALLY making want to put a Hellwig on my dually now! I have one on my Excursion and it made a world of difference! With 3100 pounds in the bed with my camper, I am having more tire wear out of my outside tires than the inside. I understand that this is partly caused by a weak rear sway bar due to too much body roll.
Golf, I have done this before and the results have always been very good. You do sacrifice some ride, not much, barley noticeable, my wife does not notice it, but I know what to look and feel for.
First time I ever did a sway bar upgrade was in '66 when I installed a HD sway bar on my car and what a positive difference it made.
All this brings my attention to the camper package the so many buy...like myself. The OEM sway bar on a dually with a near 7000 lb payload capacity should be an embarrassment to Ford. I have seen bigger pencil lead and did I just throw away my camper package I bought?????
"Camper Package (restrictions apply) includes front springs upgrade (unless maximum springs have been computer-selected as included equipment), rear stabilizer bar (SRW), slide-in-camper certification and auxiliary rear springs on F-250"
Maybe for the money we pick:
"Snow Plow Prep Package (4x4 only; restrictions apply) includes computer-selected springs for snow plow application and extra-heavy-duty alternator with diesel engine only"
I get both..camper package and I aways get the snow plow prep.
I tried that and it would not let me order it that way, the order kicks it back and makes you chose. Since I don't live in snow I went with the camper package, had I known wha I know now, I wold have gone with the Snow plow and just added my Hellwig.
My guess is something in my order triggered a duplication.
Ford says this: Camper Package: "includes front springs upgrade (unless maximum springs have been computer-selected as included equipment"
Tim
I have stable loads on my also. But what bother me or more so the wife is the leaning. We drive a lot of back roads with hairpin corners and sudden curves. Most of the roads are narrow with little room to maneuver. I run Rancho RS 9000XL adjustable shocks and run them on max firm (setting 9) which helps incredibly so. This is the next step is a bigger sway bar. You cannot see it but at the ends there are 3 holes for soft, firm and firmest settings.
Replacing your OEM bar is about a 2 hr job maybe a bit less. There are 2 approaches:
1) Lift bed. Bed is held in with 8 bolts, remove them and just prop us the drivers side
2) Drop DEF tank. This was our approach due to a sprayed in bed liner that covered all the bed bolts.
Its a simple upgrade, no odd ball tools required.
I have made rear and front sway bar upgrades before and have always been much happier than with the OEM unit.
I will do an update on this after I do my trip in April (about 2500 mi)
What year is your AF? Did you put that window in the front?
Ours is a 2001 we bought it used and it had the front window. I don't really like it much, we have a heavy piece of cardboard cut to fit covering it from the inside. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
When we first got the camper we had a '97 F350 SRW with 2" lift and 35" tires. It was a little scary. It's been a dream with our new truck.
I have had a problem though the first time I hauled the camper maybe 1800 mile round trip it damaged the bed of the truck. I just wonder if there is not an internal support in the camper that might be broke. I don't know, it never damaged the '97 and we hauled it for a year and a half. The '97 I think was built with better or heaver metal.
LOL, yea BigFoot, replacing the links also, the OEM links are as thin as pencil lead...
Here is the Hellwig link, note the bolt used vs the round head of the OEM
Here you can see the linkage and the adjustment holes. The Hellwig links are adjustable as what you want for optimum performance is to have the sway bar parallel to the ground
I like the looks of your sway bar, I going to have to look into one of those. Hauling a cab over camper we have a lot of weight up high and those little sway bars just don't help as much as they should. Mine came with a 5th wheel package (I bought it off the lot) and it does have the heavy springs front and rear so it's not real bad.
2013 with Slide In Camper Package and 5th Wheel Cross member (14K GVWR on the door sticker). Stock except for replacing factory overload springs with custom 5 leaf overloads to level truck with Arctic Fox Camper (~4800 lb. loaded) and enclosed utility trailer at 3200 lb.
Here are some pictures of the overload springs I had made to level the truck when loaded, provide adequate suspension travel, increase the roll stiffness, and in general make the truck handle well in all conditions at GVWR of 14K and towing a 3200 lb. utility trailer on a 24" receiver extension. These were made by Gitt Spring in Auburn, WA. They also eliminated the minor vibration at takeoff. Not cheap, but great results and no change to unloaded ride quality. The factory optional rear sway bar and upgraded shocks that came with the slide in camper package work well with these springs. Note wear spots on overloads where they contact frame brackets.
Ours is a 2001 we bought it used and it had the front window. I don't really like it much, we have a heavy piece of cardboard cut to fit covering it from the inside. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
When we first got the camper we had a '97 F350 SRW with 2" lift and 35" tires. It was a little scary. It's been a dream with our new truck.
I have had a problem though the first time I hauled the camper maybe 1800 mile round trip it damaged the bed of the truck. I just wonder if there is not an internal support in the camper that might be broke. I don't know, it never damaged the '97 and we hauled it for a year and a half. The '97 I think was built with better or heaver metal.
For ALL you slide in camper folks, you may want to consider a 'bed rug' to prevent damage to the bed and keep that camper from sliding around any.
Tractor Supply or any farm-ranch store should have on large rolls horse stall matting. Its made from shredded tires (I am told) and comes in a thin which is about 3/8ths or a 5/8ths thick IIRC. It's tough stuff, comes in 4'x whatever you need, just have them cut it length you want. I think I paid about $55 bucks for 4x8 piece. It does not fade or rot, is weatherproof and it protects bed, keeps it quieter and its heavy enough that it needs no bolting or gluing down.
As shown in the various pics above. I have the OEM rear sway bar, dually's don't have them unless you get the camper package or perhaps another heavy duty package of some kind.
Before I throw this thing out, does anyone want it? If you live in the San Antonio-Austin area I will meet you and give it too you.
