Anti sway bar question

[1handyhubby]

I have a lot of movement with this heavy camper so I'm looking to replace the stock anti sway bar with a Road Master. Anyone out there know if they come with the end links or did you use the OE ones? And, anyone have an F350 that has installed one? I crawled under neath and it looks like I would have to have it on a lift to replace it. The camper is on and I was hoping to change it in the driveway. Thanks

[HMS_Beagle]

I put the Roadmaster on my '99 F350 DRW, as Boatycall says, it can be done in the driveway and it does help substantially. You have more room to work if you jack it up a bit.

[Boatycall]

1handyhubby wrote:
I have a lot of movement with this heavy camper so I'm looking to replace the stock anti sway bar with a Road Master. Anyone out there know if they come with the end links or did you use the OE ones? And, anyone have an F350 that has installed one

OMG you guys, you did everything but answer his questions....

First - Yes, I installed both front and rear RoadMaster Sway Bars on my former '01 F350 DRW. Did them about a month apart, and each made a significant improvement.

Second - no, they don't come with new end links, but they do bolt right up to the existing ones.

Third - It does take a little finagling, but you do not have to jack up the truck. It's really pretty easy. I think from start, to beer, to finish was about an hour.

Extra credit points - they do come with new bushings, bushing grease and axle brackets.

And Lastly - The absolute best improvement I made in overall ride and improvement of the "White Knuckle Feel" was those sway bars.
I had extra leafs - did little to improve sway. Leafs are for weight carrying, not sway control.
I had StableLoads - again, EXCELLENT product, but not meant for sway control, adds additional weight/rear leveling capacity.
I had Rancho 9000's - same thing they did what shocks are supposed to do, they improved that "floaty" feel and overall ride comfort - nothing for sway control.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

One more thought. If your rear springs are too light for the camper and you're relying on air bags to level the truck, that could be part of your squishy problem. The air bags don't help a truck to ride firm and stiff when the springs are already overmatched.

You may need to upgrade to heavier duty leaf packs and/or add a leaf or 2 to the upper overloads.

Torklift Stable Loads will help your overload leafs to come into play sooner, which helps firm up the loaded ride and reduce squat.

If adding 2 extra leafs per side to overloads, you may need to cut down the Stable Loads' height a bit to keep them from coming into contact when the truck is empty.

Heavier main leaf packs is the first step though, in your situation, in my opinion, if you're still running the factory stock main leaf packs. Visit SDTruckSpring.com for heavier spring packs for your truck.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

On the sway bar issue, you may not need a whole new sway bar.

First, try replacing the factory soft rubber sway bar bushings with stiff polyurethane bushings from Energy Suspension or Prothane, among others.

I replaced the factory rubber bushings of both front and rear sway bars for both my F350's, as well as the front axle transverse tracking arm bushings with polyurethane and the bushings made a world of difference. I had no need to go to larger aftermarket bars, once I got good bushings in there.

My F350SRW hauled 4000 lbs in the bed for 5 years straight, no sway to speak of, for a single rear wheel truck. Of course I had other mods too: super heavy duty rear spring packs, 285-E tires, heavy duty rear wheels and Bilsteins all around.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

It's tough for even a very large camper to exceed the 4 combined rear tire load limits of a dually. Four 235/85-16E's, at dual ratings, have about 11,200 lbs combined load limit, if I remember right.

If the truck weighs 4000 lbs empty on the rear axle, that's 7200 lbs of rear tire load capacity left to go...

How much does that Host weigh??

It is quite likely the truck may be over it's ~11,500 GVWR and ~8000 RGAWR. The rear tires should be fine though..

[Bedlam]

You're probably bumping up against your tire limits and have squishy sidewalls I know you are close to or over your axle rating too.

[allygerry]

I installed the Big Wig anti sway bar and everything came in the package. Never had to remove the camper off the truck. If need be just take some of the weight off the suspension by lowering the camper jacks make sure to loosen the tie downs first.