Have a 1996 long aero that has alot of sway to it I know i have a front sway bar but would like to add a rear one to help with the handling of the van,has anyone done this and how did it work?Thanks for your help.

 

I've been wanting to do the same thing. I can't decide to go with an Air Lift system first or the sway bar. I've heard good things about both.

The tip I got from the vendors is to be sure the rear bar is not thicker than the front. My front measures 1 1/8" diam.

I also plan to go with 15" or 16" alloy wheels the next time I need tires. The shorter sidewalls help handling also.

 

in coil rear air bags first
will lift the sagging EXT tail
also takes out most sway at 10 psi +

then, if you need more handling improvement
the ADDCO sway bar

http://www.addco.net/Ford-GMC_AntiSwaybars.htm#Fordm

 

Thanks 96. Summit has the Airlift kits for the Aero for $76 + shipping. The local guys want $94 + tax. Sway bars are around $160

let's see if this link works:
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

 

I would start with the air lift kit, since it IMHO is actually better at controlling the sway, and it serves other functions. I would only bother with the swap bar if the air rides alone do not clear up the sway. I have air rides on mine, plus the factory sway bay thing, and it does not lean excessively in turns or evasive maneuvers, and is able to keep my trailer from swaying or shimmying, at speeds as high as 95 mph (Don't ask me why I was going that fast)

 

If your rear end is sagging, you should probably replace the springs first, and check to see if your rear shocks need to be replaced as well. For any other car, I would say just install a rear sway bar, as it will help reduce lean in corners by increasing roll stiffness without increasing effective spring rate. (Addco or Helwig are the only companies making them, and I'm not sure they aren't the same.)

However, even the cargo springs for the Aerostar seem kind of soft, so I would also add the air bags in the springs and pump them up when carrying heavy loads or towing a trailer. And then find some shocks that have higher damping rates than stock.

 

I installed a Helwig rear sway bar and it made BIG difference in handeling and cornering. They bolt on...no drilling. About an hour to install. This was on my '97 3.0 shorty.
Beaned

 

Ordered the addco sway bar and 4 new tires,I`ll let you guys know how they workout.Jegs had them for 149.00

 

Yes, the Aerostars generally have a problem with sway due to their soft passenger codling rear coil spring suspension. I was gonna suggest air lift shocks or air springs 1st too.

The only warning about increasing rear roll stiffness has to do with increasing rollover tendancy at the limit of handling response. Any aftermarket sway bar should be OK as should all air springs. WAY TOO MUCH stiffness will make it CONSIDERABLY easier to rollover or lose control, on any vehicle generally.

Adding new tires will help the Aerostar If the tires are better quality than the previous ones. Another set of cheap ones may show little or no improvement.

If you still have the stock Ford tie rod ends you might try replacing those too. Try adding tire pressure up to limit on tire sidewall and observe if it helps your sway.

We look forward to your report on the sway bar & new tires.

 

Actually the insurance companies have found to some extent that the opposite is true. Rollovers do not occur when someone makes a sharp turn, but rather when the suspension gets preloaded. If you swerve to avoid something the vehicles mass will lean in one direction. As the vehicle is corrected or overcorrected, the suspension releases this spring tension in the opposite direction as the bodies mass also starts to lean in that direction, the resulting motion causes the vehicle to flip over. A stiffer suspension helps prevent this scenario and tends to stabilize the vehicle somewhat. In fact, the earlier years, of the Aerostar had a lot of problems with rollovers as the vehicle was loaded towards its maximum payload, especially the extended models, and Ford eventually responded by adding a semi sway bar thing to the tow equipped and AWD models. Sway bars do not stiffen the ride, but they do restrict the amount of body lean. which among other things helps prevent rollovers. Sharp turns alone will not easily roll a vehicle, chances are that it will loose traction and skid instead.

There are limits to stiffness, and too stiff can cause problems, but most rollovers are associated with soft suspensions and tires, not stiff. One example is the seemingly tall Dodge Sprinter. That vehicle is somewhat top heavy, but has a lot of roll resistance and rollovers among the Sprinter platform are no more common than rollovers in other full sizes vans.

 

I sorta agree Bear River. The accidents I was involved in were due to 1) adding additional springs to the rear end of a rear drive car and 2) going off the road pavement at high speed, then attempting to correct the vehicle normally which induced oversteer, sending the car spinning & skidding off the opposite side of the road backward. I nearly could have been killed in one such accident as a passenger.

Note that these were NOT just adding an aftermarket anti-sway bar. But adding springs for carrying extra weight which also raised the rear of the vehicle markedly and changed the handling charactaristics at the limit. The changes were hardly noticable most of the time, but in accident avoidance type manouvers the vehicles were much more unstable and dangerous. I'm much more aware of this condition now in any modified vehicle.

Beware overly strong rear springs and/or raising the rear ride height much over stock. I'm not saying not to modify vehicles, but be aware how your vehicle handles after doing so. each modification does change the vehicle from stock. On a stock understeering type van like an Aero some change is a good thing. My Aero has only once felt dangerous with all the extra springs I've had to add to carry the weight, and I think it may've been due to high speeds through a corner with a low tire & not taking the overload springs out when they were not needed.

Adding just a sway bar will probably be ok in most cases. I've read to uprate the front bar at the same time as the rear to maintain the same front to rear balance, but I think this isn't necessary on the Aerostar, on a lighter sports-type car maybe so.

B Dobz, let us know how it works out. The sway bar was a change I wanted to make, but sold the bar before I ever had time & place to install it. My air shocks & stuff help enough.

 

Hi handy man,
As I posted earlier, I installed the Hellwig rear sway bar and the difference in handeling was a marked improvement. My van has 95'000 on it and the springs are in pretty good shape. It corners better and without as much roll. It feels much more stable. I highly recommend it. Hope this helps.
Beaned




'97 3.0 Shorty

 

I would agree, that severe modifications are not good. But you do realize that both the situations you were result in a rollover in most vans and suvs nearly half of the time. The fact that you skidded may have prevented a rollover.

 

FWIW: I had a 27 foot on a 1990 E350 chassis. It came with a front anti-sway bar and was very squirrely in cross winds. I added a very beefy rear bar and handling improved greatly, but then the front end was getting pushed over in high cross winds. I upgraded the front bar and it balanced out.

Frankly, I thought rear wheel drive cars with solid axle casing (not independent suspension) were supposed to not need anti-sway bars in the rear.

One thing to check on the Aerostar is whether the stock front bar's bushings are all shot. You can replace them and I suggest buying a new set of aftermarket links.

 

All suspensions have their own roll centers, dictated by the suspension geometry. An imaginary line joining the front and rear roll centers define the roll axis, which the center of mass will roll about when cornering force is applied. What prevents roll is the resistance of the springs. You can change that by adding anti-roll bars, which change the roll resistance without changing effective spring rate. One side effect with the anti-roll bar is that it tends to defeat the effect of independent suspension and make solid axles feel even more rigid, so on bumpy roads it can make the ride very harsh.

There is another handling trade off. The greater the roll resistance, the less the cornering forces will compress the outside suspension or raise the inside suspension. But it also results in greater weight transfer from the inside to the outside suspension. This results in loss of traction on the inside tires while increase of traction on the outside tires. But the loss is always greater than the gain for most cars, so it's a net loss of traction. These effects are magnified by high center of mass, like with a tall van.

The stock Aerostar suspension probably has more front roll stiffness than rear, resulting in understeer. This is how Ford tends to set most of their cars up, as people's reaction to understeer is to naturally lift up on the gas and apply the brakes. You can neutralize the effect by adding a roll bar in the back to increase the roll stiffness. But too much will cause oversteer, where the proper response is not so obvious.

I'll have to admit though, that shortly after I installed my rear sway bar, I actually got the rear of my 4wd van to swing out on a particularly hard turn. Maybe the bar was set up too stiffly.