Hellwig Sway Bars?

I installed a Hellwig bar under the back of my Frontier. The bar along with new Bilstein 5100's a month or so previous made very nice improvements, both solo and towing.
The Frontier was OE fitted with a 35mm front bar ( about 1 and 3/8" ).
The balance seems very good.

Slowmover...so nice to meet you...few would understand the why of Koni's, let alone
ever heard of them

Loved them on my 2 seater and L88 Vette, but not in the budget just yet for my Sub.
For when fully retire and can noodle the whole list for the Sub (Dana 60 front,
Panhard for both ends, Koni's, etc). Maybe convert to 100% electric if the investments
play out...consulting after kinda sorta retired to take care of both parents
for +12.5 years (they are both gone now).

Consulting for two OEMs next gen hybrids (American and Japanese) and
came across the next gen US Army tank motor. Electric a bit larger
than a basketball and 1,500 HP (liquid cooled). Found that they were
noodling a baby version and that's what I want...would love to read
how Turtle would explain that to the guy who wants to convert has
to an electric turbo...

Anyway, so glad to meet you...ditto Turtle...but gotta remember to NOT have coffee
as he gets into it with a Proverbs26,4 person and I've almost lost my coffee
all over the keyboard reading his exchanges with them...

Back to the OP's topic...for those contemplating this...note that it will
REDUCE the ride quality. More so if you go with the plastic bushings and larger
dia bars.

Performance has two costs...$$$$ and ride quality...generally

PS...betcha I've blown up more ICE's than Turtle...he's a pro, so of course better
at it than a back yard boy racer/wrench/gear head like me... IIRC about 7 and
all from when in my teen's/twenty's :)

PPS...Turtle...I still do get my Sub sideways often when not towing
and just me...when towing...drive like my dad... :B

Body sway and body roll are two entirely different things.

It's kind of amusing that the manufactures call them sway bars because they won't do a thing for sway. :h

Now body roll? Yes, they will really help.

If you want to take sway out then you need a panhard bar.

X2 on what Ben said. A bigger sway bar will affect handling. We play with bigger and smaller sway bars all the time in the racing game to get the car to come around or to push more.

But then again I hope nobody throws their camper into a corner at 90 MPH. :B

I recently got around to installing Helwig 7672 and 7658 on my truck (sig). No rear bar OEM.. Increased size of front. Tires are stock (MICHELIN LTX M/S) and pressure adjusted according to scale weights and vehicle manufacturer guidelines. Bilstein shocks plus rack & pinion steering with IFS

My truck runs around at a little more than 1k above published shipping weight. That is the "adjusted empty weight" for WDH purposes. Scales show that it is near 40-lbs difference at all four corners.

With that understood then the upgrade was well worthwhile. Ruts and the like don't control it as before. Tracking is better. No question that freeway ramps, etc, are more easily handled. I run the roads at 58-mph solo or towing.

I will likely install a rear Panhard Rod (Hendersons Lineup; see Track Bar) to control body movement against the springs in crosswinds. I would also use KONI FSD shocks (same supplier; see also KONI NA website), but the 2WD IFS is not covered by that line (see discussions on Class C here).

Truck now has 200k on it and new springs, etc, are in the near future. Increased fuel tank size and the likelihood of being right on top of of tire/axle ratings when towing (fulltimer) made this experiment worthwhile. So far, so good.

I would heed BenK's reservations about increasing chance of understeer. The layman discussion of understeer/oversteer is in the book by Fred Puhn, HOW TO MAKE YOUR CAR HANDLE. IOW, I would start with polyurethane bar bushings (ENERGY SUSPENSION; greaseable) all around plus those KONI shocks. And maximum tire pressure only adds to the problem of understeer. Get on the scale.

My latest experience of having a trailer push one around is on clay/caliche roads where the trailer weighs 55,000-lbs. Even eight drive axle tires in an offroad traction tread design is not always enough. Tail wags dog.

Good luck to all.

.

If you are running air bags, make sure they are plumbed to separate fills. If you overfill the bags and your overloads are not engaged, you will also get more sway.

Roadmaster also makes an anti-sway bar - It is heavier than the Hellwig, but more expensive.

I had good luck with Torklift StableLoads on my last truck. They engage the overload springs sooner and reduce sway and sag. I was able to carry 4000 lbs of camper on 3/4t truck without using air bags.

Used the Helwig Big Wig with a heavy camper. Made a big difference in side to side movement (roll)
Well worth the $$ in my opinion.

They are better referred to as "anti LEAN" bars...

Careful on just putting them on the rear axle when there wasn't an OEM, or just
replacing the rear OEM bar

The torsional rigidity is dialed in by the OEM to slightly understeer.

By increasing the rear's torsional rigidity, it will change the handling characteristics
dialed in by the OEM

Towing, will have the potential for jack knifing much larger potential at the
extreme handling conditions

Over steering is when the tail hangs out on a curve. Understeering will have
the front plow

Since the trailer will be pushing the TV's tail on a curve when slowing down or braking, etc...it will have an easier time of pushing the TV's tail into a jack
knife condition

You MUST purchase both front and rear *MATCHED* sets from any after market
supplier. Ditto their 'performance' bushings, which has an affect of increasing
the response time of any bar

double post.

I recently had one installed on my Ram dually, much less sway/lean with the camper on the truck.

I put a unit on my Tundra when we had our travel trailer and it did make a difference in the "leaning" of the truck on turns...especially "without" the trailer attached.'

Define "sway" please. To me that means the back of the truck is swinging back and forth, much like a travel trailer will do if not properly set up. It is my understanding that the Hellwig "sway" bar is to help in keeping the truck side to side leveling (leaning) when on turns.

Ron