drive it for awhile without, it takes some time to adjust to having some suspension travel under your vehicle but once you have had it I doubt you will ever go back to short travel setups.
( the last new truck I bought was in 2006, its suspension was replaced a week after )

I would wager if you drive without the bar for a week and then go tow your trailer for a test run you will not want to install the sway bar. zig zags are the last thing I want to be doing with a trailer attached anyhow. one thing you still ned to do is get your alignment and I strongly urge you to use those 2* shims in the front to bring your caster up to +5.5* degrees and have the Toe In set to +.03* to .06*

the only time I would consider putting my rear sway bar on is when I enter in the local road race, oh wait…I dont do that in my Ex

 

yes,

what thread did you look in that they were not there ? this one ?
I guess I need to update my parts list with the air bag stuff and always post the list with the air bag tangs.

 

Yeah, it was this one. But, it's entirely possible that I missed it. I did see in your parts list the regular spring plates referenced.

 

Yep, my plan is to get the alignment checked. I definitely want to add caster+. It's got just a little oversteer, return to center is almost there. Ok I used to race Porsche 928s. Quick story. While tearing around the big track at Willow Springs suddenly my car began take the corners way smoother than before. Transition got real smooth. When I got back into the pits and took a look underneath to see what was going on, I found that rear sway bar had disconnected on one end.

 

you are welcome and I appreciate your comment, I know I drone on sometimes and over talk the issue, its my nature

you tackled this project like a pro. job well done.

My future son in law is coming over today and we are doing his F250…. it takes all I have to stand back and let him learn but finally after 3 different mickey mouse setups he is finally doing the one I suggest.
I have to remind myself daily that at 19 I also knew everything

 

Rocking defines the motion if you are in the front seats, climb in the 2nd and more so the 3rd and I would describe it as jarring. 3rd row passengers knocking their heads against the window jarring.

The rocking or as I call it jarring is just the way the sway bar works.

look at what happens when your passenger tire travels upwards, as it travels up the bar resist twisting which causes the bar to rotate and pull the body down on the driver side. when that pulling down happens in situations other then a smooth radiused turn like a highway the abrupt transfer causes rocking or jarring. it is most noticeable in city type driving

the whole premises of a sway bar is to transfer weight during cornering, the inside front and rear tires unweight while the outside tires get weight, this causes understeer, by transferring weight to the inside tires you can minimize that understeer but that weight transfer comes at the cost of diminished ride quality.

tuning under/over steer is the pure purpose of a sway bar, to accomplish this weight transfer there are side effects and that is they reduces body roll and limit suspension articulation.
in stock form the Ex does not have an excess of body roll nor does it have much suspension travel so limiting it has little consequence. however when you switch out the stock short travel suspension to a MID TRAVEL like the procomp the sway bar would limit the suspension travel which would negate the whole purpose of building a mid travel setup. which leaves you with a choice to make.

1.Enjoy the benefits of a mid travel suspension and live with the understeer (or tune it out by other means ).
or
2. limit the rear suspension articulation to stockish travel by running a rear sway bar and slightly improve understeer. ( in which case I also wouldn't run 5* of caster )

Long ago I decided I was not going to try and make my Excursion a canyon carving sports car simply because it has all the wrong attributes for that that. namely it is to heavy, to tall and the front solid axle is to large of a handicap to overcome for twisty road handling. so I choose to bolster what the Ex strengths are and can be made better to achieve realistic results. so what are big tall heavy vehicles good at ? Towing long highway miles in comfort, hauling many people in comfort, hauling me and a bunch of gear to remote desert camp spots in comfort and a rear sway bar is simply counter productive for what the Ex with a mid travel setup is good at.

 

By far, this is one of the easiest "plainspeak" explanations I've read explaining how and why a sway bar should or shouldn't be added, for the purposes of what we always seem to talk about here, and that's ride quality and better driveability.

Stewart

 

thanks, I have been trying to convey this to people for awhile but without going into this detail the chorus of people who recommend a sway bar seems to drown out my suggestion.
"add a sway bar" almost seems to be a FTE mantra. .

 

Honestly, while I'm only somewhat familiar with the extensiveness of your suspension background based on all the years you've been doing the desert racing scene, and because I've always hated body roll, I've always liked sway bars and have been hesitant to even try what you've suggested to others, and that's to remove it and drive with it off to see if there's a diff.

Well, I've come to the conclusion that I'm gonna revamp my setup when I have the discretionary funds next year. I replaced the OEM springs when the Ex was only 5 years old. The new V's and B's I put on are 14 years old now, along with the Bilsteins shocks.

It is past time for an upgrade.

Stewart

Edit: I might be off by one year on my time estimates.

 

you don't need to remove it to test, just remove the 1 bolt that holds the link to the bar on the passenger side.

I don't think anybody likes body roll but going on a "eliminate body roll at all cost" will typically leave your vehicle pretty miserable to drive.

Body roll is the result of a vehicles roll center and center of gravity and many complex variables come into play but a very general statement would be the higher you raise the ride height the more body roll is a factor so if you really hated it i suspect you would be lowering you vehicle and not raising it.

keeping the Ex lift heights reasonable is the best bet, when I had my ex lifted so high I had to run a rear sway bar it sucked way worse then a little bit of body roll at a lower height.

using a rear sway bar for towing is a whole other conversation I need to try and articulate but it comes down to weight transfer and steering input.
the short answer here is for straight line tracking no sway bar and 5* of caster with a mid travel setup is better for towing then with a sway bar and 3* of caster.
with a 1000 punds of weight on the hitch which is below the center of gravity is doing more to eliminate body roll then a sway bar and you still get to use your suspension. win win

oh and here is a readers digest version of Roll Center
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roll_center

 

Yup, I know. I shoulda said "disconnect" but I got lazy with my communication.

Early in my youth I had a '90 GT 5.0 Foxbody that in a hard corner, the only thing flexing was the sidewalls.

Especially since it's the wife's daily driver, and she's 5'2"

Stewart

 

Ok, promise not to laugh:


Level without airbags. 27" front 27"rear. Next stop Earl Schieb.

 

Where's the Picture? Ok that's better

 

Why does it look lower in the back?

 

I knew you were going to ask that. I think the Ex has a little slope in the roof line, and for good reason too. Focus on the wheel wells. I measured it three times.