What's the best aftermarket sway bar for this generation of truck? I'm looking to improve cornering.

Do sway bars help with wheel hop?

 

Rear sway bar and a pan hard bar will drastically improve cornering. OEM Lightning rear sway bar is pretty decent and relatively cheap compared to full bolt on kits.

wheel hop you'd need "long bars" or traction bars.




do you have modified suspension at all?

 

I have a stock FX-4 suspension. I've looked at the mainstream brands like Hotchkis and Addco. I was under the impression that I couldn't use the rear Lightning bar because I don't have mounts on the axle?

I didn't know there were pan hard bars available for our trucks.

 

I added a rear L sway bar. I had to modify the brake lines a little and drill two holes for frame mounts. The axle hardware is like a big u bolt with a flat plate on top.

look on lightningrodder for pan hard bars for the 9.75 axle (5.4L)

 

I've poked around lightningrodder and it seems like everyone likes the broncobuster pan hard bar, but it's expensive. I've found this one on eBay...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panhard-Track-Bar-Ford-F150-Lightning-Harley-Davidson-/131113666684?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e86fbc87c&vxp=mtr
And is the lightning rear sway bar better than the aftermarkets? I would prefer to not drill any holes in the frame, but if that's unavoidable, I'll go with the best performance per dollar part. I guess I have a bad habit of paying for convenience...

 

Most of the lightning guys do hotchkiss rear bar because its stonger. OeM lightning is pretty good bang for the buck. You can find them for 75-100 bucks....

 

Like patman has said the cheapest for you will be a Lightning sway bar. Hotchkis and Helwig are stronger sway bars but are going to run quite a bit more. I would go with a bronocbeater panhrd over that one you have listed. The brace that bolts to the frame looks better on the broncobeater one. I am running an allcarfan panhard, but he doesn't make them anymore.

 

Guess I'll budget for both of these parts in the spring. Any other nice, cheap-ish suspension bolt-ons?

 

What are your goals for the truck? Are you staying stock height?

 

Because lifting and lowering are probably more than I want to spend, I'm gonna keep it stock height. I want a more nimble truck. The front end seems acceptable, and I really want the rear end to make more contact with the road.

This watts link seems like a nice way to locate the axle. Got any info on these?

 

Watts link is basically two pan hard bars on a center pivot. Most of them are custom setups

You could do block removal and shorter u bolts for about 40 bucks for -2" rear drop

 

I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to lifted or lowered. Especially on stock wheels and tires lol.