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I am planning on towing a 7x16 enclosed trailer about 3000 miles total from TX->CA->TX. It seems that a rear sway bar would be a great benefit, but how necessary is it for safety? It looks like the Hellwig bar is currently over $500, and scrounging up a replacement bar from the salvage yard, finding discontinued bracket parts, etc, is also not super cheap or easy either.
The amount of effort/cost seems high enough that I wonder if I'll be fine without it? Is it really that necessary? Will I be white knuckling it for thousands of miles if I don't put one on? This is a 2000 2wd by the way.
My Suburban and my Excursion both only have Front sway bars.
the 2001 K1500 Suburban pulled our 8k lb Toy Hauler from Florida swamps thru SC, to home in OkieLand, up to Colorado Springs ( some hills down in 1st gear, barely crawling ) and and separate trip to Custer, SD and back home...
it has an Equalizer hitch, and two Friction type Anti-Sway bars on the hitch.
the suspension is Coil Springs, all for corners. NOT a recommended tow truck, but the 5.3L gas engine just kept on pulling, I had it tuned for max torque at low RPMs... not much help, but when that is all you have?
Later, bought the 4x4 Excursion, stiff leaf springs front and back.
with 900 lbs hitch weight, it only dropped about two inches.
Stable as a rock. No Equalizer hitch or friction Sway Bars, period.
Necessary, no,,,, helpful in west Texas crosswinds, yes.
Plenty of trucks never came with a rear sway bar, and they towed for years, you can certainly get by without one, they're just nice to have in certain situations.
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Necessary, no,,,, helpful in west Texas crosswinds, yes.
Plenty of trucks never came with a rear sway bar, and they towed for years, you can certainly get by without one, they're just nice to have in certain situations.
...
that Situation, caused us to stop in Enid, Oklahoma a couple years back.
the Wx report was 50 mph wind gusts, and I believe every word of that.
found an RV park, put the nose into the wind, and rode it out overnight.
Sway bars attempt to control body roll. A truck with a bed mounted camper greatly benefits from a sway bar. When crosswinds try to push the camper one direction the sway bar applies an opposite force to keep it upright. A trailer mounted to a low slung, center mounted trailer hitch does not usually apply forces to body that engage a sway bar. If the trailer wants to tip over and applies that torque to the ball hitch, the sway bar may engage and resist the motion.
Sway bars will affect the handling of an empty truck. A stiff sway bar will not allow the body to roll in a turn and the truck will oversteer (the back end will want to come around).
Absolutely. The OEM front bar is actully pretty good, but why Ford decided to forgo the rear is a mystery. Don't forget to check your body mount bushings. I went with Daystar because they are polyurethane and don't give very much. T hey also cost a lot less than the silicone ones.
We tow a 7,600 TT with a full payload quite a bit and anything that will help steady the short wheelbase Ex should be considered.
Absolutely. The OEM front bar is actully pretty good, but why Ford decided to forgo the rear is a mystery.
they didn’t forgo the rear sway bar, my Excursion has a factory rear sway bar, and most ( if not all) of the ones I looked at when buying had one.
perhaps they were optional or part of some package, but I’m guessing it was a pretty common option/ package because I looked at several Excursions that had rear sway bars.
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Last edited by Antonm23; May 1, 2026 at 10:21 AM.
Reason: spelling and grammar
I’ve never had an ex without a factory rear bar as both of mine were Eddie Bauer trims but that said, the best thing I did to prevent trailer sway on my 28 foot enclosed was to get rid of the soft factory tires and replace them with Trans Eagle All steel tires in 225 75 15. I fought trailer sway for several trips, even using a good anti sway hitch which did indeed make a huge difference, but as the cheap factory tires blew out, I discovered the Trans eagle tires and they compltely eliminated trailer sway. I don’t even use the anti sway hitch any more and it tows better than it ever did.
I tow heavy a lot. I have the Helwig adjustable sway bar. It most definitely helps when towing, especially with high profile loads/trailers. When I'm not towing, it sucks when going over uneven pavement or terrain. It sucks so bad I disconnect it.
IMHO, a rear sway bar isn't required. I took mine off on purpose and I run 37" MT tires.
As far as an anti-sway hitch, and not using one for a camper, you're just asking for problems. I find it irritating that folks don't use them as all it takes is one mistake to put other folks lives at risk. And it doesn't even have to be your mistake.
Our Ex came without a rear sway bar. It was driven without one for the first 16 years of its life because it was only used as a grocery getter by my uncle, who bought it new.
When I bought it from him to tow our 35" RV the first thing I did was install a Hellwig with adjustable end links. Is it necessary for towing?
I don't know, but it cuts down on the pucker factor while towing a tall sidewall RV, or driving on winding roads at speed.
You're gonna get a hundred different opinions on this forum, but in the end, it's up to you.
I am planning on towing a 7x16 enclosed trailer about 3000 miles total from TX->CA->TX. It seems that a rear sway bar would be a great benefit, but how necessary is it for safety? It looks like the Hellwig bar is currently over $500, and scrounging up a replacement bar from the salvage yard, finding discontinued bracket parts, etc, is also not super cheap or easy either.
The amount of effort/cost seems high enough that I wonder if I'll be fine without it? Is it really that necessary? Will I be white knuckling it for thousands of miles if I don't put one on? This is a 2000 2wd by the way.
Our 2000 2wd Excursion did not come with a rear sway bar either. It did come with the towing package. I've towed a couple things with it up to 8k lbs. and it's not been an issue, but typically if I'm hooking up to a trailer...especially if over 6k lbs....it's with my F350. You don't state how much weight the trailer will be, but tongue weight and tire pressure is important. If you're worried about it, put a weight distribution hitch on it and also hook up the anti-sway bar with it...
I came across this older post about installing a rear sway bar from an F350. Cheaper salvage yard option with some new bushings? Has anyone else done this?
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