Stock 2wd F150 5.0
26,000 miles at time of install
300 miles on sway bar so far

Daily driver, does the occasional towing, Im a somewhat conservative driver over the last couple of years.

The sway bar does a great job at connecting the truck to the road. You "feel" things like a diagonal RR crossing, but the truck doesnt feel like its about to flip over on its side.

Bumps are more contained, best I can describe it is "confidence inspiring"


I ordered mine through Amazon, and basically got it next day






Install is very easy. Took me about 30 minutes even with taking my time reading the instructions. I spent about another 30minutes after install to "tune it" or "adjustment"








Per the instructions the recommend you install it on the weakest setting until you get used to how the truck handles with the added antisway bar. I started with the middle hole (middle strength) and havent moved up to maximum setting. Im pretty happy with midgrade. I think Max might be too much with the stock sway bar still up front. Back end might get too tight and want to start being somewhat dominate, and less compliant.....



other things worth mentioning, it seems to help slightly with axle wrap, and driveshaft clunk, all though my clunk is still present at this time

and my friend also ordered a rear kit from Amazon at basically the same time I did, and his box showed up with two pieces out of the hardware kit missing. Bummer


I haven't towed with the truck yet, but im sure it will help a ton too.

 

They certainly make for a nice improvement. I installed mine shortly after adding the Bilstein 5100's and think the shocks did more to control the truck. As time has progressed my bar has added some annoying creaks/pops when making turns. All fittings are nice and tight but the combination of winter road chemicals/dirt roads seem to be the issue. The fittings are all tight but I bet there is either corrosion or crap between the poly bushings and the end links. That said, Hellwig builds a nice product and is easy to install.

 

Nice upgrade! I have this on my list of things to do, especially with my roll happy 2014.

 

Thanks for this tidbit with the 5100's.

I'm contemplating a 5100 shock replacement all around, with the BOSS coilovers/5100 kit up front, and I was wondering how the Heilwig combined with the 5100's out back would handle. I think I'm going to hold off on the rear sway bar unless the roll into turns is still really bad with just the 5100's.

 

As I like to do a bit of off-roading, I'm waiting for the 6112 series Bilsteins. hopefully, they will be out by late summer. Larger shaft and body, more like the BOSS kits.

 

Mind elaborating on the install. I've been considering one of these on my STX Supercrew. I hate body roll and mine has a bunch. I can see how it attaches to the axle but not on the adjusting end. Did you have to drill any holes in the frame? I tried to view the installation instructions at Hellwig but their site is "under construction" and not available.

 

Interesting. If my current ride was 4WD, I'd spring for the 6112's myself since it will probably be late next year before I do my BOSS leveling and 33's, but I only have 2WD so the 5100's should suffice.

 

There is a threaded plate you slide into the shock cross member, to utilize an existing hole in the crossmember, you attach the upper clevis to that plate, them the top of the endlink.

Upper endlink has male threads, lower endlink had female threads, it adjusts like a sleeve tie rod type adjustment. End link changes length to level the bar.

And then you have rotational alignment on the axle via the Ubolt clamps under the axle




No drilling, true bolt on install. Very simple and intuitive

 

For those interested but not sure about installation, Like patman says, it's pretty much a bolt on. Here's a linky to Trucktrend as they installed it on a 2015. I assume the install will be the same on my 2014. I'll know next week when I have time to put mine on. The pics at Trucktrend are very informative as to the install. The fact that my Supercrew won't feel like it's going to fall over around a corner will be a blessing. It's my understanding that the reason there isn't one on any of the F150 is that folks would rather have the truck articulate more when offroad. Fail Ford! If I wanted to go off road, I have a Bronco for that and amazingly, it has a magnum stock sway bar on it front and rear with factory quad shocks. And I didn't buy an FX4, I bought a 2 wheel drive. Yeah, I know, quit trying to make sense.
For your review
http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/cha...15-ford-f-150/

 

Here's a tip for installing a sway bar. Leave everything loose, like barely on until you have everything bolted in place. Then go back and tighten everything up. Otherwise the last couple of bolts will be a fight to line up and this increases the risk of cross threading or galling threads.

 

An update. I put mine on yesterday in the humidity, heat, and rain. Regardless, it was not a super easy bolt on as I expected. Yes, it is a bolt on but there was one part I had issues with- the U Bolts. The clevis that bolts to the frame was a breeze even though I usually have problems with this kind of setup with cross threading. Putting the links together was kind of a puzzle because they don't tell you what length to set them at or to fully thread the two pieces together. The instructions suck, REAL bad. For my rig, I wouldn't want to have to take them off and readjust them. That would be a real pain. The jamb nut on the end links is another issue. On mine, I can't reach the nut with any kind of tool as the springs are on one side and the frame on the other. There's also linkage in the way. I would have tightened it up before installing it had I known. The biggest issue I had with installing it was the U Bolts. Putting them on, the brake line clip, all of that was easy. But mine came with locking nuts- 4 of them. It says to torque to 50-70 lbs. I have 2 electric impact wrenches. One goes up to 80 lbs, the other to 110lbs. Neither would turn the nuts. I had to use a 24" break over bar and run the nuts up a quarter turn at a time. I could only turn the nuts a few turns before they got so hot you couldn't touch them. Anymore turning would have broken the U Bolts. By the time I got finished, my arms looked like Popeye's. From viewing kits for the new trucks, looks like they canned the locking nuts and went to jamb nuts- MUCH easier install. If it weren't for the U Bolts, I could have had it on the truck in just over an hour working on my back on the driveway. I did not remove the spare tire but if I had to do another one on a driveway, I'd drop the spare just to get it out of the way. Once you get it all on the truck, then go back and tighten everything up and adjust the U Brackets so everything lines up. I would expect the newer kits with jamb nuts to be a breeze to install. Having a lift to put the truck on like Patman would make even this one not so bad.

The truck certainly drives different. The wife thinks it sits higher in the back but there's no pressure to lift the truck from the sway bar. It rides a lot more sure footed now. Any "jelly" ride is gone. I haven't had it on any rough road yet but expect it to be even more sure footed. All of the feeling that the truck is going to rollover around an uneven corner is gone. So for my usage, this was a pretty decent investment. I'm considering a new truck when the 17's come out and this time with the dual fuel system EcoBoost. If I trade up, I'll be buying another one only that one will use jamb nuts on the U Bolts.....whether it comes with them or not. The bottom line, if you think your truck rides too soft, doesn't handle corners very well, needs to handle better, this is for you.

2014 STX Supercrew with 275x 20 wheels and tires.

 

I installed a second one on a friends truck last weekend after he got the replacement parts he was missing. I did in in the street with his truck parked up against a curb, in about 45 minutes.

As for the end link adjustment, you just need to take the lower bolt off the bar and thread it up onto the top part. The ideal sway bar configuration is with the sway bar parallel to the ground. It obviously doesn't have to be exact, but it performs best when level.

For both stock 2wd trucks the end links ended up about 3/4 of the threads in the sleeve

 

That's where I put mine to start with and yeah, it's dead level. I'm not sure I understand why they want you to assemble it using the end hole in the bar though. I just put it in the middle hole and put it together. What tool did you use to tighten the jamb nut on the links? I'll probably go buy a crows foot this weekend as I can't get a conventional wrench of any kind on mine. A crows foot on a ratchet would work though. Mine is snug tight but not tight, not that it's going anywhere.

 

it won't really fall apart with the Jam nut loose, but it would eventually destroy the threads on either the sleeve or the rod.

I used a basic wrench 22mm (I think) over the leaf springs, slightly downward angle to the wrench

 

Yeah, I used an open end to get it snug but that was all I could get on it. I even tried the ever popular speed wrench since have them from a 4" to a 36" and just couldn't get any more on it. I'll pick up a crows foot this weekend and that will get it.

By the way, thanks for the pics. The instructions were so bad I used your pics to assemble mine. While it's a pretty straight forward assembly, the details are lacking in the info from Hellwig. Your pics pretty much told me where and how much. Thanks.