Sway Bars

For those of you who've had these on your truck for a while, are the sway bars noisy? Can you hear them creek and groan after a while?

 

check sitting sick

 

I saw a video by Hellwig doing an install and it looks like they recommend a little bit of grease on the inside of the D bushings. I saw the video after I did the install so I didn't do it myself.

Since right after these pics I installed a Dynomax Cat back exhaust even if it starts to squeak down the road I won't hear a thing.

 

I'm a little confused by the instructions. There are 8 lock nuts and 12 regular nuts supplied. I understand that 4 of them go on the end link rod. The instruction photos also show the axle clamps jam-nutted. Where should one put the other 4 lock nuts? I was thinking on the axle clamp with four regular nuts acting as jam nuts since the axle will see the most vibration.

 

I used only the regular nuts as I didn't like the deformed lock nuts...I felt they would tear up the threads of the u-bolts. I bought some nuts at hardware store to use as jam nuts. Be sure to paint the exposed metal bits with black rustoleum or equivalent to keep it from rusting.

The bushings looked like graphite impregnated neoprene, the kind that don't creak and groan over time. They don't on mine for sure, but I've only had it on for a couple months and wow! what a major improvement in handling! The rear end has no desire to skip out in turns like it used to, it just stays planted.

And highway driving is so much more predictable...the only way to describe it is that it goes where I point it WHEN I turn the wheel, not a few moments AFTER like it did before.

As far as off-roading goes: it will definitely limit wheel travel, so if you're a rock crawler it's not a good mod at all. But for casual trekking, on rough gravel roads, or crossing mountain parks and fields with no roads I've had no difficulties at all. In fact on gravel roads the truck is 10 times more confident feeling 'at speed' since the inside wheel is carrying more of the traction and there's less slippage.

Your needs may vary.

 

If the bushings are graphite impregnated, would that indicate that they do not need greasing?

What I decided to do was to cut the axle u-bolts down so that I could put the lock nuts on the axle without a ton of wrenching followed by the left over standard nuts to jam against. I'll be sure to paint the exposed parts when I have it all together. Rust is one thing I'm concerned about if I ever need to get this thing off in the future.

 

I too skipped the lock nuts and used loctite instead.

Question with the exposed metal parts. Didn't think about painting them when I installed and I noticed I have some rust on these parts at this point.

What would the general thought on this be at this point? Get some metal sand paper and give it a quick rub down and then hit these parts with some paint?

 

I think Rustoleum and some other products chemically convert iron oxide rust to a hard substance. It only works for light surface rust though, so flaking and deep rust pitting should be remove by wire brushing first. I was a couple weeks before I painted mine as I wanted to make sure everything was tight and the paint coating seems pretty solid so far.

Of course, next spring I'll know for sure. After the salt fest this winter.

 

Some years later.......

Are you guys still enjoying your rear swaybars?

Any rust issues with the installation of the bars? I was wary of the mounting points.

I am just about to break 50k and I am going to be installing a set of 5100s. Thought now would be the time to do a rear sway.

 

The bar itself is powder coated and I have had absolutely no rust issues with it. I am located in the Northeast so plenty of salt is seen in the winter. The mounting hardware is a must in my opinion to hit with some paint as mentioned previously. I didn't use any grease between the bushings and have no creaking issues at all.

Still by far the best upgrade I have done to this truck.

 

My next upgrade I have hear nothing but good things about the hellwig rear sway bar.

 

I like it. Quiet, effective, and aside from the rust, low maintenance. I agree with the previous post about mocking it up then trimming the leftover threads on the ubolt. And just get regular nuts from home depot to double nut everything, those other nuts suck. The hardware is a little too shiny so i blasted everything with plastidip. If I were to change anything else I might consider changing the bushings on the sway bar side of the end links. Would try poly bushings instead. Maybe try poly for the mounts too.

I don't understand why Toyota doesn't include it with every truck minus the off road and 4x4's. The mounting points on the frame are already there, just not the mounts on the axle.

Tundra racing makes a kit using the stock Toyota sway bar from the xrunner. No experience with that so i cant compare. Tundra racings a good company though, good products and good service. My next project is to use the tundra racing kit with the XII performance rear sway bar. Its over 1/4" bigger than the hell wig and uses poly mounts.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

From the looks of it the Tundra Racing bushings look like Energy Suspension bushings. Has anyone contacted Hellwig to see if they offer an upgrade on their bushings? Or the sizes so you can swap them out for poly?

 

I don't believe hellwig offers poly replacements. I'm sure you could measure the hellwig pieces and order universal ones from energy or prothane. I just never got around to it cause to dimension the parts id need id have to take everything down. Not motivated to explore further now cause i want to go a different route. Got hooked on handling and now I want to upgrade.

 

Another happy Hellwig sway user here.

 

Hellwig is in my shopping cart on Amazon right now. Going to do the extend the breather, Fumoto valve, drain the axles, transfer case and install the 5100s. Figure if the truck is up on stands I might as well bang all of the jobs out.

 

Here's my new sway bar. Wider, fatter, heavier, and more colorful. XII performance sway bar with tundra racing mounting kit. Required drilling a couple extra holes in the frame but almost a simple bolt in process. 3/4" hell wig vs. 1-1/16" XII perf. Tundra racing end links are massive too. I think the end link bracket will fail before the end link does.

Just got my 1-3/8" hell wig front sway bar from Amazon. Got some XII poly mounts for it. That thing is a beast.

 

Looks good Hirod. Are you running an open diff?

How does the truck handle on sweepers with the new setup?

 

Nope. Factory limited slip. If by sweepers you're referring to big turns, I haven't had a chance to really try it out. Just finished throwing on the front sway bar. Long story short, the truck handles too good. Threshold boring. Need to swap in the front shocks and light racing ucas to correct the camber then off to try it out.

Front sway

 

Got the hellwig rear sway bar myself. This bar is my next upgrade. I like the pics.