Rear Sway Bar Installed

First off no need for any comments that I cannot off road due to my sway bar. I do not off road and daily drive it, so I care about more about handling. I need the 4wd for the snow in my area, truck meets my needs.

I have put a couple of rear sways on previous vehicles that were just larger diameter than stock and then made a very noticeable difference.

Basically the same case here. DCSB 4WD 2nd gen does not come with a rear sway and it is sloppy like a whore in a corner. I know this is not the case for those off road since a loose rear keeps the wheel in contact over uneven terrain but on the street the terrain is flat. So this keeps the truck nice and flat and you feel more slop in the front than the rear now.

I went with the Addco over the hellwig since I ran addco before and it was a larger bar over hellwig as well. Was about $150 for the kit which includes all hardware. Install is about a 30-45 minutes. Bolt brackets to axle and drill two holes in the frame for the endlinks, tighten it all down and go play.

I could not find any pics of this on the net or on TW either so I took a few to show hole placement and ground clearance. Only rear sways seen are typically on xrunners and not 4wd models. Pretty obvious this would get messed up pretty good rock crawling.

Last suspension mods for me is to get my 5100's in all around, setting at .85 since I do not have TSB and also to get some poly urethane bushings and new end links for the front sway since they are about 6 years old now. Upgrading over the stock rubber bushings and endlinks is noticeable I did it on my Z56 police tahoe.

Only sore point is they did not ship the correct nuts for the bolts that connect the end links to the bar so I used some other nuts and bolts I had but need to get them matching and correct length, if you look hard you can see one side does not have washers and the other side does. Not many places open on Christmas with 1/2 x 13 locking nuts on the shelf.

 

Looks good, nice job. Nothing wrong with a rear anti-sway bar. Some of the off-road race trucks have come up with some clever designs to keep the truck from lifting in a turn. I think dodge has them on their full size trucks or they use too. My 2001 2500 4x4 work truck had one.

 

Doesn't look bad at all! You didn't have to drill the frame did you?

 

Two holes 5/8" in the frame right between were the cross member ties in.

Cannot believe how soft the steel is on these frames.

Couple of pics look like there is not much room between the bar and various points of contact but it is due to picture angle. Lots of clearance all around.

 

Im sure alot of x-runner guys will be doing this

 

X-runners come with a rear sway and a x-brace. If I remember correct some 2wd prerunners might have a rear sway as well but no x-brace.

If I get bored I might fab up a x-brace but I think the rear sway is enough at this point.

 

lj973gm,

Thanks for the write up and message. Like you, I was looking real strong at the Addco sway bar for the same reasons, on highway handling. I swapped out the Dunlop tires that came from the factory on my regular cab 2011 with Michelin LTX M/S2s. The first curve I entered at any speed told me that with a sway bar to go with the tires that I would have a great handling truck. I will be anxious to get myself one now. Just the tires turned it from a wallering hog unsafe at any speed into a Ninga. I can only imagine how great it will be with the anti-sway bar in place. Thanks again.

 

I'm a big fan of addco, I have a rear one on my truck and have a front one on order.

 

Wow that kit was $150 and the Hellwig kit is like $250? It sounds like the Addco is a better product anyway.

 

How's she handle now? A rear sway bar has been on my short list for awhile now, and the Addco is the one I've been eyeing.

http://www.definedengineering.com/products.html has a shackle brace similar in function to the Xrunner rear brace that I'm considering as well

 

I am still happy with it. Worth the money and not stating that since the money was spent on it. I would tell you if it was worthless crap or not.

Have not got around to putting in the 5100 all around yet or upgrading the front bushings. Wish I was in the warm south weather and this would be all done already.

Truck is too big in the garage to work on with the doors closed, it is heated but just too large.

That brace they sell is pretty nice but I am a cheap fucker and won't cough up $180 for it. Will have to make one myself if I feel the need. Nice for those looking for a quick bolt on. It has to help seeing how much flex is back there.

 

It even looks easy enough to take off the night before an off roading trip for those that want nice road handling and manners, and wheel travel off road.

 

When I swapped axles on a 3500 gmc crew dually, I took it for a ride without reattaching the rear sway bar. It was a squirrley bitch.
I wouldn't mind having one with a center disconnect for off roading.

 

Good to know, I'll pull the trigger finally

And yes, that brace is a little high to me too... But MUCH cheaper than the factory one that doesn't fit with the tow hitch. I could fab a brace, but my welding skills are very out of practice! So we'll see what I end up doing there.

Looking forward to hearing how the 5100s treat you. It sounds like we have similar expectations and uses for our trucks

 

Swaybar looks good, better than the Hellwig installation actually. You have a lot of rust on the rear axle and the leaf springs, though.

 

Chicagoland is white after the first snow fall until spring hits. They dump soo much salt you can drift every corner with the salt dust left over.

No sand dropped in my area just tons and tons of salt. I bought the truck used and will tackle the rust this summer. It is just surface rust currently.

 

I had about a hour to spare so I tossed in the rear 5100's.

Much softer shock on small bumps than a stock shock. The 5100 does give up some stiffness in a turn in doing so. Have to say the stock ones from the short 5 mile drive I took were better for handling in corners but overall the 5100 is better shock.

I am going to drive on them a bit more and see if I like them more than stock or not. Answer will probably be yes but see how it goes.

 

Would this rear sway bar work with a lifted truck?

 

Looks like that sucker will stay stuck in the corners now lol! its going to handle very nice. Goodjob.