Got this from Hellwig today. Makes no sense to me:

"Tim our sway bar is designed to mount on the top of the axle with the hump up over the diff. and arms are pointing towards the front of the vehicle."

With the fuel tank right there, how is this even possible?

 

Don't the sway bar end links go on the out side of the frame. If so it should work.

 

I had one on my 2000 regular F-150; it had the 9.75". It goes outside of the gas tank area. It has frame brackets that put it just below the frame area. There's been many members that installed these hump up and hump down, so either way. I installed mine on top and it works fine if you position the U-bolts in a particular position. It also barely clears the top of the area on the rear end where the ABS sensor goes.

 

Do you think that it will fit on a lowered L?

I'm really having trouble seeing it in my mind's eye.

Does anyone know where I can find a photo?

 

Tim
I think that any bar that goes outside the frame rails and sits on top of the rear end housing is going to give you trouble IMO.

 

Looks like you might have to go to a Nascar style sway bar

http://www.1speedway.com/Swaybars.htm



And they are close you you, just outside of LA

 

The attractive part of this option is that the center section is no longer fighting the diff cover and panhard mount for space. As it is now, I cannot drop the ends of the bar because it strikes the diff cover. On the other side of the diff, there would not be a big protruding diff cover to hit.

Hell, I may see if the Hotchkis will flip.

But, according to my calculations, the Hellwig bar is WAY stiffer than the Hotchkis, so I may switch anyway.

(stiffness = dia(mm)^4)
stock -- 0.9" solid -- 273091
Hotchkis -- 1.0" 1.0" hollow -- 416234 = 53% stiffer
Hellwig -- 1.13" solid -- 666727 = 144% stiffer

Plus, since the Hotchkis is hollow, that number is actually too high.

The front Hellwig and Hotchkis appear pretty close.

 

On the regular F-150s, they make a standard version and a version for lowered trucks. The end-links and frame brackets can be shortened. I don't know if it will work on a your lowered Lightning. There are many pictures and posts about this install in the "suspension" section. It's hard to picture, but here is how it installs. It has u-bolts/bushing/axle bracket that mounts on each side of the axle tubes. The end-links have a frame bracket shaped like an L that mounts to the frame with 1) nut/bolt and 1) J shaped bolt on each side. The bottom of the L has the end-link bolt hole. The end-links can be shortened to make the anti-sway bar's arms level. The bar's arms are about a foot long and ride forward of the axle, but just below and equal to the frame. This anti-sway bar mounts and is located totally different than the Lightning anti-sway bar, but is universal enough to be mounted to many configurations including the F-150 with the 8.8" axle. The entire assembly is in front of every part of the axle housing. I had the front and rear ones on my truck and they were very substantial pieces and worked well.


HEY GUYS....does anyone have this on a Lightning?

 

Looking promising.

Too &%^$^ bad I just welded the anti-sway mounts to the axle a couple of weeks ago.

Doh!

 

Yup, that's it. To get the bar to clear the ABS sensor area on the front/top of the 9.75" and to have good general clearance, you have to point the U-bolts in a certain position. If you were facing the center of the right rear tire and looking towards the U-bolts, pointing them to 2 o'clock position works well. Also, a bit of emergency brake cable bracket bending or relocation is needed.

 

I think it would be hard to calculate bar stiffness based on diameter alone. You have to take into account the length of the arm or lever portion also. I think .......The Hellwig looks like it has longer arms on it.
Dale

 

I've got wood.

 

Tim, what are you doing still up at this time? If your still working on your truck your more hard core tham me!

 

You are correct. My analysis is an oversimplification, holding the arm lenght constant. If the Hellwig arms are longer, they will be less stiff.

From Neuspeed:

"The stiffness of any torsion bar (and that's what an anti-roll bar is) can be approximated using this equation:

K = 1,178,000 x (D4 / LA2)

Where K = bar rate in lbs/inch D4 = diameter of the bar, raised to the 4th power, measured in inches L = center length of the bar, measured in inches A2 = lever arm length, squared, measured in inches and 1,178,000 is the rigidity modulus constant

When you are working with solid bars, D= the outside diameter (O.D.) of the bar. When you are working with hollow bars, D = the wall thickness of the tubing, NOT the O.D. of the bar.

So, if company "A" offers a 28mm. hollow bar for your car, and NEUSPEED offers a 28mm solid bar for your car, the solid bar will have the higher rate if the lever arm and center lengths are held constant. Do the math before purchasing a hollow bar. It may be lighter, but it's not as stiff as a solid bar if the O.D.'s are the same.

The stiffness of an anti-roll bar may also be calculated based on the torque force required to deflect the lever arm by 1 degree. The mathematical formula is different, and the unit of measure is Inch-pounds per Degree."