Originally Posted by Ian Clarke

Originally Posted by fordrealdrive

Way back in 1989, when I was 16, I bought my '76 highboy. The t.c. mounting plates were bowed from the t.c. swaying back & forth under acceleration. The bushings were rotten & the truck had lived a very hard life. It was a company rock quarry truck & then retired to farm use before I got it....poor old truck was hammered & being used as parts truck from the man I bought it from. I don't know if it had a stabilizer bar when new, but I didn't get one with it.

fordguy2100, I think you might be right about alot of highboys not having them (have you any proof?...I can't find any...)& I have often wondered if maybe it was some type of recall...but nearly every highboy I've been around does not have the stabilizer bar. I have seen more np203 (full time t.c.) equipped highboys with the stabilizer bar than with the np205 part time units. This makes since to me because of the additional weight of the np203 vs. the np205.

when in 2wd the t.c. doesn't sway that much, but once shifted into 4wd & 4-low especially, the t.c. will sway quite a bit under acceleration...& worse with a heavy load. Good t.c. bushings & the stabilizer bar eliminates probably 95% of any movement. Rotten bushings & no stabilizer bar increases the chances of u-joint & or driveshaft failure.
engine torque+gear multiplication= alot of forces being applied to the t.c.!
once upon a time, these trucks were used to get work done & used hard!...only recently, have they become pampered collectables.