2002 ZF6 manual transmission 7.3l diesel.

I have heard that these trucks sold with a rear sway bar.

I have a front sway bar, but no matter how many times I look, I don't see a rear sway bar under the truck.

Would this be a worthy upgrade?

Can anyone provide a part number for one that bolts up and includes all hardware?

 

not all trucks have them. my 04 has one the 02 does not.
to be honest, i don't see any difference between the ride on either truck, except the 04 rides like it has cinder blocks for wheels because there is no weight in the back end.

 

My '01 F250 4x4 Lariat didn't have one. Didn't have a LSD rear either. Go figure. The previous owner had installed 1 ton SRW springs on rear before I purchased it. It didn't really need a rear sway bar when empty, but adding one did help when towing my fifth wheel camper.

 

I can say from experience that the truck handles way better with 20 sheets of 1/2" plywood in the bed.

It is a 350, and my understanding is that the only difference between 250 and 350 is the suspension rating. 250 not designed to carry as much weight, 350 had higher payload capacity.

There is certainly a lot of "sway" when I hit freeway bumps at 55mph with 14k pound trailer behind truck. Feels like I'm a tadpole "swimming" down the street. Almost feels like I have blown shocks, but that's not the case.

Maybe a rear sway bar would fix that side to side sway with the trailer, otherwise I'm looking at airbags which are not cheap.

My 350 '02 also does not appear to have a limited slip rear either. It's one tire fire and the truck won't move. I've gotten stuck on gravel driveways that are very slight grade.

The truck won't move it's *** up a slight hill, a rear tire just spins and I look like an idiot while I have to shut off the truck and get out and lock the hubs.

 

Does anyone have a part number for an aftermarket sway bar kit?

2002 F350 with sterling 10.5" rear end.

 

You could always pick up the equilizer kit for the hitch. It has the equilizers to stop the tongue bounce and the brake to stop the side to side sway. I use it on all my hitch mount trailers and it makes a massive difference. Completely eliminates both symptoms and the kits about 100 dollars. Available everywere. My 02 has the sway bar, although I'm the second owner so it could have been added by the previous owner. I just bought the frame down off an 04 dually to convert my truck to dually, and it has one as well. Know what it also has, that I never seen before???? The front leaf springs have a small coil spring on top, like an air bag??? Kinda neat. Never seen that before, and if its a jobber fab up, the guy did a fantastic job because it looks stock. Anyway. Get the hitch kit.

 

Aftermarket bars will be very expensive. Find some one local parting out a truck (Craigslist), or call a junkyard. I doubt the stock bars are a high demand item, so they should be relatively cheap. Since you don't have a stock bar, just make sure you get all the mounting hardware on the axle. Tell them not to torch/cut the brackets/u-bolts off, as you will need them. The end links don't matter, as you should replace them anyway.

You can also replace the stock bushings (bar-to-axle bracket) and end links with stiffer polyurethane parts (Energy suspension, Prothane, etc..) This will improve the performance of the stock bar.

 

My Excursion didn't come from the factory with a rear bar, and the Ex's that do have a 26mm swaybar.
The single best thing I've done to the truck is to install a bar from a F350 which is 30mm diameter. It has less body lean, and I'm sure if you have a camper, or haul tall loads, or tow, you'll be amazed at the difference.
I got mine at Pick n Pull for less than $40 bucks for everything! A comparable bar from Hellwig is $250 /more for their Big Wig model.

 

My '99 F250 did not have a sway bar from the factory.....my '00 F250 did. I think the rear sway bar on the '00 is about 1" dia or so.

I opted to go with an aftermarket Hellwig bar for my '99. It's much thicker than stock and works much better. My '99 SRW with air bags, Hellwig bar and E rated tires towed a 16k lb 5th wheel without any drama. Actually handled it nearly as well as our dually (F450).

It's been so long since I've purchased the Hellwig bar that I can't find the part number. It looked a bit like this kit...
Hellwig 7268 Big Wig Rear Sway Bar - TruckSpring.com

Hope this helps.

 

Same as Shake N Bake. My late 99 didn't come with a R sway bar and for towing a TT with the load bars, it seemed like it would be a good upgrade. Definitely was! Tows far better and unloaded the truck handles great now. Stays flatter in turns. The hellwig is much thicker than OEM btw.

 

Local junkyards are not an option.

Hellwig does make a kit for the rear... 7268

And for the front I believe it to be... 7640

My 2002 crew cab does have a front bar, and after reading some reviews -- a positive change was reported in replacing the OEM front bar with the hellwig front bar due to a stiffness increase.

Anyways -- hopefully this post helped someone.