I've got an 82 F100 (with the small breaks) and am looking to add a rear sway bar. I already found an old new stock front one (not installed yet) and I have some questions on the rear. I've seen new kits for the rear for F150 through F350 ranging from 1980 to 1996/7 but none of those list that they will work on a F100. Just curious if anyone has any experience with those, would be nice to pull one out of a yard instead of spending $300+. I know my rear springs are not quite as wide as on F150 so is that why they are different?

 

I thought the 100 & 150 4x2 trucks used the same springs but the 150 4x4 trucks had a wider spring?
The onlyh thing I can see being different between the 100 / 150 and the 250 / 350 would maybe be the 250 / 350 bars (front & rear) being bigger dia. than the 100 / 150 bars as the larger trucks would have more weight they could carry but i dont know if that is true or not just what I would think.

Now if the springs are wider on the 150 truck would that make a difference?
How dose the bar hook up? I think they have brackets on the axle housing to the bar but what is out at the ends of the bar as I have not see that from what I remember.

Only other thing is your 100 should have a 9" rear axle. Think in 83 they started using 8.8 axles and I think the bars bolt up to the housings differently but they may still work?
I really need to look into a front bar but would like front & rear bars for my 81 F100 4x2 as it needs a little something for the turns LOL
Dave ----

 

Does your truck already have a front bar? You have to be careful adding a rear bar, it will stiffen the rearend up in a turn and it will have a tendency to come around on you. If you run into that problem you need to upgrade the front bar also. They affect the balance of the truck in turns only.

 

well there is a good possibility i'm wrong. Its been a while since I purchased add-a-leafs, but I think my F100 rear springs were 2.5" wide and normal is 3". If memory serves, thats why I ultimately decided to go with add-a-leaf instead of getting a whole new set - because they were unique and way more expensive than normal. I do have a 9" rear end. Most of the rear sway bar kits say compatible from 1980-97 F150/250/350 2wd or 4wd. I have a feeling a normal stock F150 bar will work, but I dont know for sure. As for the front, I found a hellwig kit on FB Marketplace a guy clear on the other end of the country was selling, it was still in the box and manufactured in 2012. I tried to order this model from SDTruckSprings.com but once the order went through a few days later I got an email with refund stating they dont make them anymore (would have been nice if removed from their website)

 

I just measured my 81 F100 and you are right 2.5" wide.
Then I Googled how wide are 80 - 86 F150 rear leaf springs and I got this page
https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index...iABEgLF1PD_BwE
And it shows 86 - 96 F100 / F150 2WD rear leaf spring at 2.5" also.

Then did it for a 81 F150 as it should bring up 4x4 also.
https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index...oducts_id=1516
And it did both 4x2 and 4x4 and looking at 4x4 springs they list as 3"
As I thought the 4x4 springs are wider and it has been posted the same, 4x4 wider than 4x2 rear springs.

Now I also remember posts of using 4x4 sway bars but that may have been front only as I cant remember if they did the rear from the same 4x4 truck?
I want to say it seamed the 4x4's got sway bars more than the 4x2 trucks for some reason?
Dave ----

 

Yep, you are wrong . All 2wd f100, f150 trucks had 2.5 inch springs. All f150 4x4 trucks had 3 inch wide rear springs.

 

oh, and I forgot to answer your question. I have the front sway bar, but Its not installed yet. Now that its getting closer to working outside weather I'm looking for a rear so I can install them at the same time.

 

That makes sense. Do you know if rear sway bar is the same for all models?

 

Here's a link you can click on that will show there are many different sway bars. It depends on how the truck is equipped as to what bar it has. Like I mentioned, it affects the balance of the truck so trucks with different weights and different springs and different options can have different bars. You will have to put yours together and try it. https://www.garysgaragemahal.com/sway-bar.html

The factory sets their vehicles up to use the Nascar term "push" in a turn. Push means when you go in the turn too hot, the vehicle will tend to slide the front tires. I read the factory realized this is the easiest for most inexperienced driver's to recover from, it starts sliding and most people's natural tendency it to apply the brakes. Besides slowing the vehicle it puts more weight on the front tires and makes it more likely to be able to keep control of the vehicle. The front bar is usually larger because of the weight of the engine up front, but they also increase the size so the vehicle will push.

The other Nascar term is "loose". That is when the rearend starts sliding around in a turn if a vehicle is too loose. A rear sway bar will make the vehicle have a tendency to be loose, unless the front bar is sized accordingly. You will find most rear bars are very much smaller than the front bar.

 

well that works for me, because I have a 1 1/8 front and cant find anything bigger than 1" for the rear lol

 

I ordered my rear sway bar kit last month from SD Truck Springs but it was a 1” Addco kit model 341 instead of Hellwig. I got a email that it could take up to 8 weeks to get it and offered me 5% off if I wanted to wait. I said sure I’ll wait and about a week later I got it and the 5% so when everything was said and done it was $237. I haven’t had a chance to install it yet due to work but I hope to have time next weekend to install it.