Trak, Sway or Stabilizer ?
I have an older Minnie that I have yet to take out, but after reading all the great info on this forum, I feel I need to put on one or more of these items for Comfort and safety reasons. My question i...
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I have a Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer. It's a damper and a centering device. Here's why I chose it:
link to quote
This link has the sway bar and trac bar (and Safe-T-Plus) information that I had installed on my E450. I went with the rear trac bar because I'm towing a car. It helps a lot with tail way. The trac bar and Quiet Hitch have darn near eliminated all tail wag for me.
Later on I had the OE upper and lower ball joints replaced. They were totally worn out. I replaced them with NAPA ball joints that have grease fittings. New ball joints tightened up the steering quite a bit. Much improved.
link to quote
j-d wrote:
Monroe replacement is under $30 at places like Amazon, closer to $20 at RockAuto. Advance had a special and I paid around $30 delivered to the house. Some sellers show "Lifetime Warranty" and others don't. Since Advance does, and there's a store around the corner, I went that way.
The RoadMaster unit looks like the same concept as Safe-T-Plus except the coil "centering" spring is external where you can see it. S-T-P has it inside the tubes. Looked at the RoadMaster install instructions and saw what I always expected. You must be sure the vehicle steering is centered or the stablilizer will introduce a pull to one side or the other. Easy to correct per instructions.
RoadMaster limits their retail outlets much more than Hellwig does for their products. S-T-P uses more outlets too, so chances are you can get that unit at a lower price than RM's stabilizer.
I prefer S-T-P and RM over Safety-Steer (the one with brackets, springs and bellcranks out at the wheels) because it lacks a hydraulic damper. The OEM "stablilzer" I call a "Damper" because it has no centering springs. So:
OEM, Monroe = Damper
Safety-Steer = Centering
S-T-P, RM = Stabilizer (Damper AND Centering)
My ratings, your opinions may vary.
This link has the sway bar and trac bar (and Safe-T-Plus) information that I had installed on my E450. I went with the rear trac bar because I'm towing a car. It helps a lot with tail way. The trac bar and Quiet Hitch have darn near eliminated all tail wag for me.
Later on I had the OE upper and lower ball joints replaced. They were totally worn out. I replaced them with NAPA ball joints that have grease fittings. New ball joints tightened up the steering quite a bit. Much improved.
