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Will a rear sway bar make a big difference? I have already swapped out the rear leaf springs with 1 ton HD pair. Incredible difference there. But when I tow a 30' 6400lb travel trailer I still get more sway than I prefer. Granted it was extremely windy last time I towed, but it was a pain in the *** getting it down the road.
Will a rear sway bar make a big difference? I have already swapped out the rear leaf springs with 1 ton HD pair. Incredible difference there. But when I tow a 30' 6400lb travel trailer I still get more sway than I prefer. Granted it was extremely windy last time I towed, but it was a pain in the *** getting it down the road.
A rear sway bar could help, but getting your weight distribution hitch properly squared away will be the biggest single thing to tame trailer sway. What hitch are you using?
I would put a sway bar on irregardless if I towed.Combine that with some radius rods and your life will get much easier. Good call on switching springs. I had an 01 2WD and the Hellwig anti sway bar and radius rods made it fun to drive--not a labor
A rear sway bar could help, but getting your weight distribution hitch properly squared away will be the biggest single thing to tame trailer sway. What hitch are you using?
I have the weight distribution hitch with the sway bar attachment on the hitch. That definitely helps.
I would put a sway bar on irregardless if I towed.Combine that with some radius rods and your life will get much easier. Good call on switching springs. I had an 01 2WD and the Hellwig anti sway bar and radius rods made it fun to drive--not a labor
They are bars which clamp on the rear axle and extended up to the front of spring perches where they attach to metal plates you have welded on. Had them on my 01, 05 and just need to install on the 04. It helps with wander and rear steering. Basically it keeps your axle in align with the rest of your vehicle.
I love em!
sounds like you are getting trailer sway from wind, lots of things factor into that but a few of them are, differential in square feet of surface area between tow vehicle and trailer, hitch setup, lack of shocks of trailer, trailer tires, tow vehicle tires, tow vehicle shocks.
radius rods
a 4x4 excursion uses a 1/2 leaf spring anti wrap bar to control axle wrap in 4 low or during full throttle acceleration from a stop, the RR are a replacement product that does the same thing. they are not going to help with body roll or trailer sway.
I have the weight distribution hitch with the sway bar attachment on the hitch. That definitely helps.
While your 30' TT isn't extremely heavy at 6500lbs (is that dry or loaded for travel?) a rule of thumb that I have read a few times puts the effective limitations of those clamp on friction anti-swaw bars at about 26'/28' of trailer length. Obviously not a hard and fast rule of course but if you do a fair amount of highway towing I think you would be very impressed with the better performance of a WD hitch with built-in sway control. Something like the Reese Dual Cam can be had without breaking the budget with a little shopping around.
Getting the EX/TT combo to properly behave on the highway in traffic makes traveling sooo much more comfortable as well as the additional safety factors. There are a few very good writeups available online (some have been linked to here in the past) on setting up a WD hitch properly and getting it dialed in for the best towing performance.
I installed the hellwig sway bar this past Saturday on my 2000 2wd EX and while I haven't towed with it yet, it and new Rancho 9000's made a HUGE difference in the way the back end of the EX handled. Worth it for sure.
I installed the hellwig sway bar this past Saturday on my 2000 2wd EX and while I haven't towed with it yet, it and new Rancho 9000's made a HUGE difference in the way the back end of the EX handled. Worth it for sure.
Welcome to FTE!.
I will guess in a few months you'll start to get a "clunk" from your front swaybar end links. My theory (for 2WD folks) is the rear swaybar will end up putting more stress on the front swaybar end link and it'll start to clunk (the front is a poor design). I have yet to find a cure, going on 4 years.
Welcome to FTE!.
I will guess in a few months you'll start to get a "clunk" from your front swaybar end links. My theory (for 2WD folks) is the rear swaybar will end up putting more stress on the front swaybar end link and it'll start to clunk (the front is a poor design). I have yet to find a cure, going on 4 years.
Wow, is that right? I've not heard anyone say that before.
I'm dying to put a Hellwig on but just haven't gotten it done. I have a 4x2 also, so I'm concerned.....but just about anything has to be better than the body roll on this beast. I'm really sick of it (the body roll, not the Ex).
Welcome to FTE!.
I will guess in a few months you'll start to get a "clunk" from your front swaybar end links. My theory (for 2WD folks) is the rear swaybar will end up putting more stress on the front swaybar end link and it'll start to clunk (the front is a poor design). I have yet to find a cure, going on 4 years.
I've never heard anything like that before, either.
Upgraded front and rear bars on everything I've ever owned and have not experienced it, either.
The Hellwig rear bar I added on our 2002 2WD Excursion made a huge difference in body lean since there was none to begin with.
There was a noticeable improvement when I changed the front to the Hellwig bar, too, not near as much, but better.
The front still has the factory end links and at 110k no clunk.
I had a front end clunk, but that went away when I changed the tie rod ends.
The front end link bushings are the factory rubber ones.
I'll change those out to polyurethane when I get some time to figure it out.
After new F-250 rear springs and shocks it handles great.
I have my rear sway bar on for about 4 weeks now. I have towed a few times and general running around town. I can notice a difference in the way she acts around corners loaded and unloaded. I replaced the front bushings and bars at the same time. I hope I don't get any clunks anytime soon
Yes, the Hellwig will help a bunch with just normal driving, Tom is right, a weight distribution and sway control hitch is exactly what the Ex needs, air bags also help a bunch too.
