Installed Hellwig Rear Swaybar
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 1,372
Likes: 12
From: California
The bar itself looked to be quality, but the rest of the kit was composed of weak and poorly constructed parts... The kit was overall universal and not well engineered...A better method would have been to work off of the shock mounts instead of universal U bolts that interfere with brake lines....Not something I would buy again. My recommendation is to look at other bars such as the Hotchkis or Steeda, it may be more money, but you get what you pay for....Eric
I was not impressed with any of the aftermarket sway bars from Hellwig (and if you have ever been to Hellwig's shop, you will easily understand why- the guys are nice but, well - there is a green haze out in back of their "no drug" shop), etc.....too many ground clearance issues- with my model, the bar is hung below the axle- I guess somebody thought the tailhook from an F14 would be a great "model" to base their design from...., exhaust system contact/limitations for mods, weight, relocation of vent lines, etc., etc. The overall designs were terrible IMHO...in general, instead of giving the sway bar advantage over the truck, the typical design gives the truck the leverage (so to speak) requiring a much larger swaybar than what is necessary.
Fabbed the bar itself from chromemoly steel, (solid, I would have preferred the hollow but I have no way to bend it) and all of the endlink assemblies, plates, etc were fabbed by myself, the assembly only requires two holes drilled for mounting, the entire assembly installed in 1 hour in the driveway (after I was done fabricating for 8 hours)....and yes, it is patterned after the rear bars of the 60's (pony cars) which allows 1/2 the diameter of the bar to be used because of the high leverage the bar has on the truck itself.....in a short salom course, we outran a porsche cayanne (SUV non Turbo) by 2 mph in 2 back to back runs.
I initially had a deal with addco- I would draw up the blueprints, and they would build mine free for giving the design to them.....this was fine with me- except the engineers said "It can't be done".......so here's to the smart ones at Addco!
Last edited by beechkid; Jan 28, 2013 at 03:09 PM.
