Upgraded Sway Bar for Pulling 5th Wheel

buddy at work has a in the bed camper (lance I believe) and he added larger sway bars (f350), he also has bags and he says it drives into corners a ton better. not needed with a 5er IMO

lillyputz wrote:
I agree with what Johnboy too has said about the rear swaybar. I installed a 15/8 inch Hellwig on my 3500 Dodge long bed. I would do it again.

Lillyputz

Do yo use your truck to tow a 5th wheel? And you have compared before and after the swaybar addition?

I agree with what Johnboy too has said about the rear swaybar. I installed a 15/8 inch Hellwig on my 3500 Dodge long bed. I would do it again.

Lillyputz

I do not believe upgrading a sway bar will have a noticeable difference in towing a 5th wheel. My 2001.5 Dodge has one as part of the camper option. In 2003 Dodge quit installing them on 2500 and 3500 trucks, stating that the frame rails were widen which moved the springs out more and they no longer felt a sway bar was needed.

I have disconnected once to see if it improved the brick truck ride, and it did. I would be nice to have a quick disconnect like the jeep guys use.

Chris

Ron Nielson wrote:
Are there any 5th wheel owners out there that have upgraded their truck's sway bar with a beefier unit, such as the Hellwig Big Wig Sway bar? I know that many camper owners do this, and some trailer owners do also, just not sure of any benefit with a 5th wheel. If so, I would like to hear of your experience and of the benefits of having replaced your stock sway bar.

Ron,
As you probably know a sway bar has a couple of functions and not all of them are beneficial to just sports cars around a track.

1) they can 'soften' the side to side sway when hitting undulations in the road surface.
2) they help hold the vehicle level when going around a corner

BUT, they do hinder any articulation you might need if going off road. (why lot's of offroaders have quick disconnects on them)

Many, many more vehicles come standard with them on the front nowdays, I'll bet even on some of the trucks of the previous posters that said "Don't need em" :)

I had the camper packages rear bar thrown in on the deal for the new truck. they had to order it and install it a couple of weeks after I purchased.

so between the many bars I had put on before and the difference in cornering with the addition of the new rear bar, I feel the handling and cornering is better unloaded.

And what I've found is that even towing :
when I go down that two lane road with the right side worn out from all the heavy loads
and the right side hits a dip that is not on the left, the truck tends to not jerk you from side to side as much...

Have I quantified it with scientific testing ? No, but seat-o-the-pants and logically it helps...

As far as buying the Hellwig, it's better grade materials and thicker than the stock units, so it is better at limiting that sway. (had hellwigs on previous large SUV's)

AND,
You get better mpg with a sway bar !


you don't have to slow down as much for those turns that you can take faster now ! thus conservation of energy due to not having to accelerate back up to speed !! :)

There is another bad side to it though...
you may have to tie down more stuff because things go sliding across your dash as you make those turns faster !!!

so, is a stock sway bar better than nothing yes,
is a hellwig better than stock, yes,
is it THAT much better, some feel it is, some not, but you could always sell your stock one and recoup some of the cost...
good luck !

oh and on edit ---
thought I'd add to my post to say that's just my humble opinion and experience talking since we each own our own stuff - we can each do or not do whatever we want (well other than what the gooberment MAKES us do)

Sounds like someone bought too much trailer, and needs a bigger truck.

krsmitty wrote:

Captain_Happy wrote:
Since when does a 5th wheel setup need a sway bar? Never had one when we had our 5th wheel. I most be getting old.

X2...never heard of a 5th wheel sway bar. Where does it go at?

I believe he is asking about the sway bars that are on the front and rear suspension of the truck (under the truck) - not an anti-sway bar that connects between 5th wheel and truck.

My Reese 5ver hitch rotated left and right and forward and backward. Doubt if sway bar on truck would do anything for 5ver. My 5ver towed very well.

Captain_Happy wrote:
Since when does a 5th wheel setup need a sway bar? Never had one when we had our 5th wheel. I most be getting old.

X2...never heard of a 5th wheel sway bar. Where does it go at?

My truck came from the factory with a sway control bar. See no need to swap it out with an aftermarket one.