Just got finished, wanted to post up a few thoughts on my install was of a Hellwig rear anti-sway bar on my 2000 PSD Excursion. My thanks go out to those we went before me and posted their experiences, because the instructions were definitely lacking.

My notes:

The bar itself looked great, with a speckly powder-coat surface. Mine came with all the right brackets nuts, bolts and washers.

Last night I pre-assembled the end links. I used a large bolt, some washers, 1/2" sockets and some grease to press the hour-glass shaped bushings into the ends of the links. The little metal tubes that go into the bushing went in with a couple whacks from a rubber mallet.

This morning, to begin I unbolted the rear shocks at the bottom mount. I left them to hang from the top mounts and they didn't get in the way of anything.

Next came removing and replacing the shock mounts which was really no sweat. The mounts are located on big round plug on the axle itself so you don't have to worry about getting them aligned when you put it back together. The passenger's side is only a little more difficult becuase the mount itself is so big and heavy. Having a helper would have been nice here. When I put the brackets back on with the new u-bolt, I just put a nut and washer on the bottom of the 3 locations on the new bracket. This was enough to hold the shock brackets and the new sway bar brackets in place for the next step.

Next came threading the bar over the drive shaft and bolting the sway bar bushing brackets to the shock brackets. The only thing to note here is that I put a washer under the top of the upper bolt, so that the bolt head didn't just sit on the bracket. Otherwise this part was real easy and I left everything loose for the time being.

Then came installing the end links. This was the hardest part for me. Of the two holes available, I used the top hole as it looked the biggest and didn't have anything mounted in it on either side. Also, the locking bolts they give you aren't the normal kind you get at the hardware store. They go on like you are trying to thread a metric nut on a standard bolt. The passenger side also doesn't have great clearance because of the muffler. So it was slow going but I finally got it snugged up. On the driver's side there is a little bracket holding on the parking brake cable on the lower hole. Since I used the upper hole for the sway bar link, I was able to put the cable hanger back in the hole where it was initially mounted, but had to use a smaller nut and bolt so as to clear the link.

Then it was just a matter of getting the bar centered and tightening everything up. I then bolted the shocks back into the lower mount brackets, and that was it.

All in all, not too bad, and done in under two hours and no need to jack up the Excursion. Pretty soon I'll take it for a drive and then go back to torque down all the nuts.

Again, thanks to everyone who came before and posted their hints and experiences. A particular thanks to the guy who said not to catch your brake line under the u-bolt - that would have turned a 2-hour job into an all-day ordeal.

 

nice write up, and the passenger side end link is no doubt the worse part.

I did have to jack up the rear though. I used the jack to line the shocks back up and again to fasten the ends of the sway bar to the end links.