Hellwig sway bar 04+ - recommended
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Joined: Dec 2005
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From: North Metro Atlanta
Hellwig sway bar 04+ - recommended
I got under my 07 Saleen S331 the other day and realized that it did not have any kind of swaybar...wierd. I ordered a Hellwig. Hellwig rear swaybar, part #7663...$194 shipped from an online dealer.
Installation was fairly easy. The kit came with no instructions, but I just downloaded them. The instructions say 2-3 hour install. I thought "yeah right, I will have it on sooner than that." I was wrong. It does take a good two hours...only because there are SO many nuts to tighten up. One could probably do this in an hour....if the quality of the threads from Hellwig were better.
I could finger-tighten only a few nuts. The others...forget it. They would go on 3/4"...then...you had to crank....hard. It wasnt just 1 or 2 that were like this....9 our of 12 nuts were like this. I have never had to work so hard to get things to tighten up. Oh, and make sure you have a 3/4" deep well socket. Additionally, many of the nuts need to be torqued to 120ftlbs! I thought that was A LOT!
Anyway, back to tightening everything up. I got everything installed and went to go tighten the nuts up that hold the end links to the frame. They DID NOT want to move. Mind you, they were NOT cross threaded. I tightened them up as much as I could...and small trings of metal started coming out. Not a good sign.
I went to go loosen up a nut on the endlink so it would snug down on the endlink bushing....nope...not moving...at all. I nearly snapped the end link from trying to get the nut off...that I just put on. No, it wasnt a lock nut.
Anyway, I got everything snugged down and took the truck out for some spirited driving. Night and day difference. The truck turns flat, no body roll...I love it.
I would recommend this kit to any 04+ F150 driver...just be forwarned about the threads and/or nuts!
Next will be a hellwig front sway bar...replacing the racecraft one from Saleen.
Installation was fairly easy. The kit came with no instructions, but I just downloaded them. The instructions say 2-3 hour install. I thought "yeah right, I will have it on sooner than that." I was wrong. It does take a good two hours...only because there are SO many nuts to tighten up. One could probably do this in an hour....if the quality of the threads from Hellwig were better.
I could finger-tighten only a few nuts. The others...forget it. They would go on 3/4"...then...you had to crank....hard. It wasnt just 1 or 2 that were like this....9 our of 12 nuts were like this. I have never had to work so hard to get things to tighten up. Oh, and make sure you have a 3/4" deep well socket. Additionally, many of the nuts need to be torqued to 120ftlbs! I thought that was A LOT!
Anyway, back to tightening everything up. I got everything installed and went to go tighten the nuts up that hold the end links to the frame. They DID NOT want to move. Mind you, they were NOT cross threaded. I tightened them up as much as I could...and small trings of metal started coming out. Not a good sign.
I went to go loosen up a nut on the endlink so it would snug down on the endlink bushing....nope...not moving...at all. I nearly snapped the end link from trying to get the nut off...that I just put on. No, it wasnt a lock nut.
Anyway, I got everything snugged down and took the truck out for some spirited driving. Night and day difference. The truck turns flat, no body roll...I love it.
I would recommend this kit to any 04+ F150 driver...just be forwarned about the threads and/or nuts!
Next will be a hellwig front sway bar...replacing the racecraft one from Saleen.
