Helwig Bigwig swaybars? May 16, 2017, 11:46:16 am During our years of owning two truck campers on three trucks, I was constantly working to decrease the sway of the rig on the highway as well as when driving over uneven terrain. The most recent camper weighed close to 4600lb. and sat in the truck bed with the rooftop air conditioner at 12 foot 6 inches high. Improvements included stable-loads, 19.5 inch steel sidewall tires, Bilstein shocks, frame-mounted toe-downs, and Helwig Bigwig swaybars. This combination yielded a very stable platform, even when riding on a four wheel drive, single rear wheel truck. There was very little sway when semi's passed us, and MUCH less when driving over ruts and rocks, or in crosswinds.I am disappointed to discover that our relatively low-profile 27 foot Midbath rolls and wallows much worse than the truck and camper. We have Bilstein shocks, but everything else is 2014 stock suspension. When a semi passes us on the highway, the pressure wave in front of it warns me to hang on and the Bernoulli effect along the sides and rear of the truck pull us toward the other lane, and we wobble and sway down the highway. I noticed that the stock front swaybar on the Lazy Daze is about one half of the diameter of the Helwig Bigwig swaybar I installed on the truck. Has anyone installed Helwig (or another aftermarket heavy duty) front and rear swaybars on their Lazy Daze and did it noticeably decrease sway and roll?
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #1 – May 16, 2017, 12:47:19 pm Quite a few LDs have larger front and rear sway bars.The older E350s didn't even have a rear bar.Adding the Hewigs will definitely help with the sway but they do not improve the ride quality, other than reduced sway, because they inhibit suspension travel.Start with the rear bar, it has the greatest influence, due to the high weight on the rear axle.Without spending very much, the stock rubber sway bar bushings can be replace with stiffer polyurethane bushings. I suggest doing this on any LD with more 60,000 miles or so. The stock bushings are usually beat up by then.Another thing that causes severe sway and rocking are loose top nuts on all four shocks.As the bushings loosen, as they do with accumulation of miles, the bushings slowly collapse, allowing free play.This 'free play' allows the suspension to move without any dampening, leading to bad sway or rocking, on the right road surfaces.Shock bushings | FlickrThis exact thing has happened twice to our LD, over the years. Tightening or replacement of the shock's top bushings is the cure.Here is a link to a interesting posting I made several years ago pertaining to the sway bar and shock bushings .Low buck suspension improvements for higher mileage LDsLarry 3 Likes
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #2 – May 16, 2017, 01:15:05 pm Larry or others.Do you have a source from which the polyurethane bushings can be ordered? I'll be replacing shocks (going to Koni's) in the not to distant future. Like to do it all at once. John 07 MB (with a french press to make coffee)EDITed PS,I saw kits on amazon, just would rather buy from a vendor that has already sold a kit to someone here.
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #3 – May 16, 2017, 01:22:15 pm Thanks Larry,I'll check the top nuts on the shocks today. Inexpensive fixes are the best!You are correct about the ride quality when one adds the heavy swaybars. Lateral sway is reduced, but the ride becomes stiffer.Harold
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #4 – May 16, 2017, 03:53:13 pm Quote from: John DaCrema - May 16, 2017, 01:15:05 pmLarry or others.Do you have a source from which the polyurethane bushings can be ordered? I'll be replacing shocks (going to Koni's) in the not to distant future. Like to do it all at once. John 07 MB (with a french press to make coffee)EDITed PS,I saw kits on amazon, just would rather buy from a vendor that has already sold a kit to someone here.I thought the bushings he was talking about are part of the shock. Is that not correct?On another note, we switched to Koni in May of last year and like them.Jim
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #5 – May 16, 2017, 05:14:27 pm Quote from: Jim & Gayle - May 16, 2017, 03:53:13 pmI thought the bushings he was talking about are part of the shock. Is that not correct?On another note, we switched to Koni in May of last year and like them.JimYes. The bushings for where the shock meets the suspension and the bushing where the shock meets the frame. I do not believe he was talking about bushings internal to the shock. And sorry to the OP for going off on a tangent but it still relates to handling. Jim, did you get the Konis from a dealer or from the web. For now I am looking at the Koni Website (http://www.konirv.com/nextstep.cfm?Model=18 ). I purchased my RV used from the second owner. It had only 4,000 (yes only three zeros) on it. He had put on two or three. It had sat for a few years (sad story) before the second owner purchased. I now have 40K. I am actually surprised the shocks have held up this long.
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #6 – May 16, 2017, 05:58:00 pm Shocks normally come with 'rubber' bushings. By exchanging the rubber for polyurethane your are in effect creating a firmer mounting point, top and bottom. Because of that the mounts are less likely to loosen and certainly less likely to break down as rubber will do.
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #7 – May 16, 2017, 06:55:56 pm We went from a full size Bigfoot on a well equipped dually to the Lazy Daze MB on an E350. Our experience is a bit different. The top heavy sway on the camper was unnerving, but tolerable and the performance in passing and side winds was better than the LD, much better. The LD had me white knuckling for a few thousand miles. Then I got a bit smarter and dug into my load and tire pressure. Weight was well distributed, but the tires we inflated to 80 psi. With my weight on the four corners, Michelin recommended 60-65 psi, so I aired down. What a difference! Stability was improved very noticeably. Then we had Henderson's in Grants Pass do their magic. New Koni shocks, heavier sway bars, Super Steer (to help reduce the wander- probably not needed). The shocks and sway bars made a great improvement, with the rolling back and forth when exiting a driveway apron gone. Truck passing on highways and two lanes is a non event. I feel it, but just the kind of push you would expect. Henderson's wanted to sell me their panhard rod solution, but after another 18,000 miles, I see no need. If the rear end still wanted to waggle when being passed by a truck at a high rate of speed, I would go that route, but no need for us. 1 Likes
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #8 – May 16, 2017, 07:57:32 pm Quote from: John DaCrema - May 16, 2017, 05:14:27 pmYes. The bushings for where the shock meets the suspension and the bushing where the shock meets the frame. I do not believe he was talking about bushings internal to the shock. And sorry to the OP for going off on a tangent but it still relates to handling. Jim, did you get the Konis from a dealer or from the web. For now I am looking at the Koni Website (http://www.konirv.com/nextstep.cfm?Model=18 ). I purchased my RV used from the second owner. It had only 4,000 (yes only three zeros) on it. He had put on two or three. It had sat for a few years (sad story) before the second owner purchased. I now have 40K. I am actually surprised the shocks have held up this long.We bought through All Wheel in Redding, CA and they installed them. We had over 50k on original Ford shocks which were still fine.Jim
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #9 – May 16, 2017, 09:25:49 pm I'll be replacing the steering shock (pictured below) or at least the rubber bushes. I weigh the RV a couple Yearly (generally close weights) at a truck stop to make sure the weight has not creeped up. I set the tire pressure for the next weight class up on each axel. It was only on the last drive out to Colorado and back that I noticed some mild handling issues. Up until then just correcting the airpressued gave me really pretty good handling. Not like the MINI Cooper I was driving, are the cars I got auto-crossed, but for a truck pretty good handling. That was especially true in the winding turns going up to Shanendoah and other places in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was always fun to drive and felt well balanced. Now it is more butchered in the crosswinds and when trucks pass. The expansion joints have always been jarring.
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #10 – May 17, 2017, 01:27:11 pm Can anyone recommend a shop that installs Helwig rear sway bars in the LA area. I have a '91 E350 that doesn't have a rear sway bar. I'm fairly certain it would make a huge difference if one were added. Cost?Dale from Downey.
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #11 – May 17, 2017, 02:25:25 pm It's a simple bolt-on... just about any custom auto shop could do it.
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #12 – May 17, 2017, 10:08:04 pm Paul,Thanks for the helpful reply. Do you recall what kind of sway bar was added? Did you go front and back, or just the rear?Dale,I ordered my Helwig Bigwig sway bar (a more robust sway bar than their stock one) from Amazon. Free shipping with Prime and it is heavy! The Amazon recommendation steered me to the lighter duty sway bar, but I got the best recommendation by calling Helwig and talking to their customer service rep. They are in Visalia and may be able to recommend a shop to do your installation.Hellwig - Load and Sway Control ProductsI installed mine in my truck. It was a pretty straightforward and simple job with common tools. Easy-Squeezy. If I go this route, I'll do it again and it might take half of the 90 minutes that the first one took.Harold
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #13 – May 18, 2017, 12:11:43 am Installing the front hellwig is not that hard, just a bit heavy. My front bushings were shot so I decided to upgrade. As for the rear, I found it harder to do by myself on a 97 e350 chassis. It will require drilling 1 hole into the frame on both models even though it is not in the instructions for both. The Hellwig 7085 is a 1-1/2 inch at almost 60lbs where the 7183 is a 1 1/4 inch bar at almost 40 lbs. The rear heavy duty made a large improvement in handling for me when almost at capacity and I would not go lighter even for the cost savings. With the front sway bar installed I didn't quite have enough drop to remove the bolt when replacing my front I Beam pivot bushings this week. 1 Likes
Re: Helwig Bigwig swaybars? Reply #14 – May 26, 2017, 01:09:14 am Quote from: Craig P - May 18, 2017, 12:11:43 am As for the rear, I found it harder to do by myself on a 97 e350 chassis. It will require drilling 1 hole into the frame on both models even though it is not in the instructions for both. The Hellwig 7085 is a 1-1/2 inch at almost 60lbs where the 7183 is a 1 1/4 inch bar at almost 40 lbs. The rear heavy duty made a large improvement in handling for me when almost at capacity and I would not go lighter even for the cost savings. With the front sway bar installed I didn't quite have enough drop to remove the bolt when replacing my front I Beam pivot bushings this week.Jack stands are handy for a single handed installation. Adjust the stands to support the bars at the right height while you bolt up the brackets or mark the spots for drilling.We installed a rear bar on my brother's 23' E350 Winnebago. It made a huge difference, not having a rear sway bar to begin with.Larry 2 Likes
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