Just installed front and rear Hellwig anti-sway bars along with Bilsteins front and rear. All I can say is WOW! What a difference! Truck rides better than ever and corners very flat now. Always liked the ride before but didnt like leaning into corners. Also the slight nibble/vibe at around 65 MPH is gone.

 

Got any pictures and/or tips to pass along from the install? How'd it go, and what kind of job was it? I've been thinking about a similar upgrade for my truck at some point in time!

 

Front sway bar took about a hour, but if I did the same job again it would take about half that time. Most of the time spent figuring out the correct bar end positions. Rear sway bar took 1/2 hour and was very easy to install. Keep in mind I have a compressor and air tools so job goes much faster. Shocks.. I only did the rear shocks and they took 1/2 hour also. Front shocks I had done at a garage due to the lack of a flat surface to work on. I will post pics in a short while here.

 

Rear Sway Bar


Front Sway Bar


Front Sway Bar End Link (Correct Orientation of Link)


New Pic of Truck

 

I agree! I also installed a rear Hellwig and changed my shocks to Bilsteins. I feel the cornering is much more stable and flat. The ride also feels more confident and is definately safer IMHO. It is too bad a rear sway bar could not be installed at the factory. The difference is HUGE!
Perhaps I shoulld look into changing the front one as well.

 

Thanks for the pictures!

Yep! I found the same thing out when I installed my Magnaflow cat-back system -- if I had to do the job again it would have taken a fraction of the time, since I already knew how everything would have to be aligned in order to fit right!

 

About a year or so ago I was looking into getting a sway bar for the rear of my truck, but the Hellwig ad I saw said "not for use with limited slip differentials". Do you guys have LS diffs and if so, have you had any problems?

 

I have a LS Diff but have had no problems. I heard that sway bars are bad for lockers but not LS. Just read thru my paperwork that came with the sway bar and it doesnt say not to use with LS.

 

Hmmm, I may have to look into this again.

 

I have sent a E-mail to Hellwig asking about the rear sway bars effect on limeted slip rear ends. I am more curios than concerned as I have had no problems. I will post there answer.

 

Emailed Hellwig and here is there answer.

To: customerservice@hellwigproducts.com
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 9:15 PM
Subject: Sway bar for 04 Ford F-150

Rear sway bars can be a problem with lockers, havent heard of any problems with limeted slip.
From: "Gilbert Contreras" <gcontreras@hellwigproducts.com>

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Will your rear sway bar work ok with a limeted slip rear end? Will it have adverse effects on the rear end? Thanks in advance, Mike

 

I'm going to see if I can find the ad that I saw the warning about not using the rear sway bar w/ LS diffs. It was probably soon after I got my truck so it was over a year ago. I know for sure it was a Hellwig ad though. It's kind of amusing that I saw it in an ad for their sway bar and now they say they've never heard of that being a problem.

 

I noticed your rear shocks are mounted boots up. Are the boots on your rear shocks the accordian style or the smooth sided sleeve style?

 

Accordian Style.

 

The ride improved 10 fold when I installed my Roush suspension package. It didn't include a sway bar for the rear though. Was there a big difference in the diameter of the stock and hellwig bars?