Anyone added aftermarket sway bars to their truck? If so, which ones and how did they turn out?
I am looking at adding Addco sway bars front and rear to my truck. It is a 1989 f150 2wd, with no factory sway bars. Hoping to decrease the effect driving in the strong Montana crosswinds.
Cody

 

I have a Helwig front swaybar for my '95 F150 just waiting to be installed. Purchased from JC Whitney and shipped direct from helwig, but had wrong link bolts (too long and would have hit frame). I called Helwig and they were very nice about it and have sent the correct links. Hopefully will get this installed in next few weeks and let folks know how it is working. Check out Hellwigproducts.com site. Pricing seems best at J.C. Whitney. Also search this forum as there are a couple sway bar (anti-sway bar, stabilizer bar, etc.) threads with useful information.

INLINE SIX POWER!
300 Cubic Inches of Low RPM Truck Torque! And twin-I-beams too!

 

I put F&R Addco bars on my 96. The difference in handling is like night and day. Do it you won't regrert it.

 

Just curious what did the Addco bar cost? I paid $114 for the F150 front bar (regular Whitney price is $134).

INLINE SIX POWER!
300 Cubic Inches of Low RPM Truck Torque! And twin-I-beams too!

 

Just ordered the Addco set this morning from Performance Products in California. It cost $234 for the set. Cody

 

Great price! I wonder how they compare with Hellwig? One thing I note about the Helwig is the links are standard grade 5 bolts you could get at a good hardware store with a sleeve to separate the bushings at either end, which is not the case with the factory stock bars I have seen.

 

Check www.shox.com for pricing on both brands. I went with the Addco because of my familairity with them in sports car applications. They work just fine in the truck too.

 

I know that Sway Bars cut down on the body roll in corners and stuff but does anyone know just exactly how the sway bars work? I've just always been curious. Like everyone, I know they work, just don't know how really so was hoping someone could tell me a little bit. Thanks.

James

 

I did some net searching and to put it very simply, the sway bar is a torsion bar, when the suspension compresses on one side, the torsion on the bar makes the other side also compress. Hence, prevention of body roll in corners because as soon as the body rolls compressing the suspension on the outside of the curve the force is applied back to compress the suspension on the inside of the curve. Similar action in cross winds. Now prevention of body roll wouldn't probably matter so much (but for maintaining a sense of well being or equilibrium for the driver), but body roll tilts the tires, reducing tire contact patch area and lifts the inside tire for reduced traction. Maintaining a level body maintains the larger tire contact patch. Nice thing with sway bars is you can firm up handling yet maintain relatively soft springs for a smooth ride as the sway bar does not resist on bumps that both wheels hit. Not sure what happens with large bump (chuckhole) hitting one side only, but suspect it is not a big deal or you'd hear complaints. Too strong of a sway bar can cause the inside wheel to come off the ground in hard cornering though, which is why you want to stay with the manufacturer's recommendations. Now for a little more detail, depending on how they mount, if the bar mounts on the frame and the lever arms link to the suspension, then when the suspension on the outside of the turn compresses the inside compresses by action of the lever arm pulling the wheel up toward the body; whereas if the bar is mounted on the axle (works on live axle rear end, but not independent suspension for obvious reasons) and the lever arms link to frame, then on roll the bar pulls the body down toward the tire, which seems better than pulling up the wheel, but it probably makes no difference as the bottom line is as stated above (underlined part). Bend a paper clip in a sway bar shape and play around with it a bit to get a feel for the action. Note also that putting a sway bar on an independent suspension reduces the independence of that suspension. However, this likely is only a problem if you put to heavy of a bar on. Adding or increasing the size of the front bar will put more of the vehicles weight to the front in curves, thereby increasing understeer; whereas adding or increasing the size of a rear bar adds oversteer.