Boatycall wrote:
crazyhats5 wrote:
Is it worth putting one on the front?
I did the rear first, and that made a huge difference. I'm now considering the front, but the TC's center of gravity is all on the rear axle, I'm guessing the improvement won't be as noticeable.
Has anyone done one at a time - rear, then some time later the front?
Yes.
1999 F350 SD dually Xcab. I had the front and rear factory "camper package" bars. I put the 1.5" Roadmaster on the rear, replacing the 24 mm factory bar. That reduced body roll substantially, but led to some handling problems empty. In higher speed turns there was a transition to oversteer (tail hanging out) that while not dramatic seemed like it might be in the rain. So I put a Hellwig 1.5" on the front (no Roadmaster for my year), also replacing the 24 mm factory bar. This restored the benign handling of the original setup. The behavior with the camper loaded is much better with both bars (I didn't drive it much with just the rear). In fact the bars made more difference than airbags or shocks by some margin.
I wouldn't call the empty truck handling with just the big rear bar horribly dangerous, but it was peculiar. You would never notice with the camper loaded.
Between the Roadmaster and the Hellwig, the Roadmaster is higher quality, but they both do the job.
Airbags or overloads will do less to limit body roll than a big anti-roll bar. It isn't just lean going around corners, although the big bars have all but eliminated that. It is also the sideways rocking on uneven surfaces that is greatly eliminated. The camper will rock to follow the uneven surface but does not continue to rock back and forth until the next lunch stop. Also at least Fords are prone to a bit of roll steer (steer wheels turn in response to body roll) and this was apparent when being passed by a semi or hit with a sideways gust of wind. That has also been reduced substantially.
