Anti-Sway Bar recommendations

[Lance915]

I have a 2005 long bed, extended cab, 2-wheel drive Silverado HD with the DuraMax/Allison setup.
I was thinking about installing sway bars for when I haul our 9.5 ft. Lance camper on our many road trips. The camper weighs 2722 lbs. when loaded with water and propane, and is probably pushing 3100-3200+ lbs when we load all our "stuff" inside.

The only mods to the truck are a Banks intake, Firestone airbags, and oversized tires/rims (Bridgestone DURAVIS M700 LT265/70R17 tires on GMC 17"rims, instead of the stock 16" tires /rims). The airbags helped eliminate some of the side-to-side sway, and I was wondering if the sway bars would further reduce the sway? Don't get me wrong it's not swaying from side to side like a bowl of jello, I was just wondering if the bars would be worth putting on.

My mechanic says most of the sway I'm feeling now is the result of the oversize tires and the flexing of the sidewalls, and that can never be totally eliminated..

I have no idea what's out there, and if they offer front and rear bars, would you do both front and rear?

Thanks..

[04sierracrewcab]

matt (mwright936) has sway bars on his truck
hopefully he can shed some light

[retired]

A rear heavy duty sway bar will help.

[MWright936]

matt (mwright936) has sway bars on his truck
hopefully he can shed some light

Actually, I don't have sway bars, I just got new bushings for my existing front sway bar. It's a polyurethane bushing kit from Energy Suspension that includes new mounts and end-links. It did make a noticeable difference in handling and was only about $40 or so. You can check out all of the kits that Energy Suspension offers at their website.

[Never Enough]

Do it. Plain and simple.

My 03 Z71 - I installed Addco front and rears on that truck. I like curves, and hate driving a water balloon. It makes a world of difference when you're driving empty, and even more so when you have a load on. I camp with one of those in bed pop up campers and I noticed the difference immediately. The stock bar on your truck is hollow and weights about 7lbs. Its pathetic. The Addco bar is solid and weights in at about 27lbs. Your truck doesn't have one on the rear. I would install both a front and rear. The front made the biggest difference when empty, the rear when I had a load.
My 08 Z71 - I now have Hellwig front and rears on this truck. I went with Hellwig because I prefer their finish better (and they sent them to me for free so I wouldn't run Addcos again on this truck...lol). I wanted to try their bars anyways. Same situation as with the other truck. Night and day.
Wifes 03 Durango- Addco front and rears - I refused to drive the thing until they were installed. Trucks rear end skipped all over when you'd hit any bumps in the road. After the sway bar, the thing sticks to the road.
Mother in laws Tahoe - Addco rear sway bar
Father in laws Sierra - Addco front and rear (from my 03 when I traded it in). He loves them. He does a lot of hauling.
....lol....I can keep going as my employees have all swapped out their bars on their sport compacts too.
Sway bars are one of those things most people don't consider but once they do it on a vehicle and realize what a difference it makes, they tend to do it on all their vehicles from then on. We talk to a lot of people that we've sold bars to years ago that are putting them on the vehicles they just purchased.
I do suggest sucking it up and getting both done at once. The install is easy and should only take you about 45 minutes to do each in your garage. If you need to see some installed photos so you can see what you'd be getting yourself into, just post up and I can post some for you.
There are several companies that make bars for your truck:
Addco - great bar, powdercoat finish needs work, less expensive
Hellwig - excellent quality, great finish and hardware fitment, more expensive
Beltech - decent, but I dont reccomend as their R&D is lousy and so is their customer service if you have an issue
Cognito - made by Hellwig but with upgraded hardware - great quality but pricy - may be your only option though if you have aftermarket exhaust on your diesel

Hope that helped.

[Never Enough]

You can check out all of the kits that Energy Suspension offers at their website.

Not a big deal, but thats not Energy Suspension's website. Thats one of their dealers. The Energy Suspension site is www.energysuspension.com

[MWright936]

Not a big deal, but thats not Energy Suspension's website. Thats one of their dealers. The Energy Suspension site is www.energysuspension.com

Yeah, I knew that, I just put a link to the parts dealer because they have prices with pictures of the products.

[Lance915]

Do it. Plain and simple.

There are several companies that make bars for your truck:
Addco - great bar, powdercoat finish needs work, less expensive
Hellwig - excellent quality, great finish and hardware fitment, more expensive
Beltech - decent, but I dont reccomend as their R&D is lousy and so is their customer service if you have an issue
Cognito - made by Hellwig but with upgraded hardware - great quality but pricy - may be your only option though if you have aftermarket exhaust on your diesel

Hope that helped.

THANK YOU very much for taking the time to make such a indepth response!! In my many hours of searching, I came across the name ADDCO, but I was a little leery, as I'd never heard that name before. I was leaning towards Hellwig, but now I think I'll give Addco a second look.

Thanks again!!

[04sierracrewcab]

Do it. Plain and simple.


Addco - great bar, powdercoat finish needs work, less expensive
.

how much do they run??

[Never Enough]

2wd 1500 front and rear Addcos go for $325 shipped, 4wd 1500 front and rear Addcos sell for $315 shipped.

When you upgrade your sway bars I would seriously consider upgrading the bushings to a set of Energy Suspension or Prothane greasable sway bar bushings. For $16 a pair, its well worth the ease of hitting the zert with grease when you're already under there lubing the chassis. If you dont keep Urethane bushings greased they'll squeak and it will drive you nutts! I installed ungreased bushings on my truck intentionally one day just so I could know the sound for when I reacieved calls about it. It didnt even last a day - I was dreading every bump because of the noise.

Here is a photo of the rear I had on my truck:
http://neverenoughauto.com/image.php...3&window=popup

And the front:
http://neverenoughauto.com/image.php...0&window=popup