Ford E450 sway bar?,s
My 2006 E450 has the original sway bars and sway bar links. I cannot afford new hellwig sway bars at this point. I am wondering if anyone has changed the original sway bar links, bushings, etc and h...
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^^^^ Great Pix!!! They show not only the much more massive size of the Hellwig bars, but also how they match up with OEM attaching points for easy DIY installation. The Rear uses all OEM points. The Front, up through 2007, uses the center bushing locations, but the ends are different since Ford was using a bar that engaged bushings pressed into the axles. It was a poor arrangement and Ford went back to end links in 2008 and newer. This is a 2012 axle with the Hellwig bar from 1992-2007. You can see the large round holes in the axle that held the OEM front sway bar from those years, just no bushings in them. Then the rusted surface is the mounting boss they added for sway bar end links in 2008 and newer. 
The 1992-2007 Hellwig kit will work on 2008-up but the 2008-up Hellwig kit needs those end link attach points and won't find them on a 1992-2007 axle. Removing the OEM front bar only requires unbolting the center (where the bushings and brackets are in the photo earlier in this thread) and pulling the bar out of its axle bushings. Bushings can stay. Then you build the end link mounts shown in my pic above, from the Hellwig kit.
Install Front first. Unfold/flatten the box to make a surface to slide around on to ease getting to the rear. Close the rear box up and put the new bar on top of it to help slide it under. Also gets you that much closer to the installation height. All you have to do is remove the old bar then catch one of the axle mounts of the new one. From there it's easy to lift the second axle mount in place and move on tho the frame attachments forward of the axle. Cardboard is your Friend!
The 1992-2007 Hellwig kit will work on 2008-up but the 2008-up Hellwig kit needs those end link attach points and won't find them on a 1992-2007 axle. Removing the OEM front bar only requires unbolting the center (where the bushings and brackets are in the photo earlier in this thread) and pulling the bar out of its axle bushings. Bushings can stay. Then you build the end link mounts shown in my pic above, from the Hellwig kit.Install Front first. Unfold/flatten the box to make a surface to slide around on to ease getting to the rear. Close the rear box up and put the new bar on top of it to help slide it under. Also gets you that much closer to the installation height. All you have to do is remove the old bar then catch one of the axle mounts of the new one. From there it's easy to lift the second axle mount in place and move on tho the frame attachments forward of the axle. Cardboard is your Friend!
