What was the deal with Bullnose sway bars?

[Blacktop]

Do any companies make aftermarket sway bars for bullnose trucks?
Would love to fit front and rear swaybars to mine but being in the UK, our scrapyards over here arent exactly full of them!

[Ray Cecil]

Blacktop wrote

Do any companies make aftermarket sway bars for bullnose trucks?
Would love to fit front and rear swaybars to mine but being in the UK, our scrapyards over here arent exactly full of them!

I am not sure. Google would tell you pretty quick.

I did discover a full set of swaybars sitting in my driveway under the bronco today. Woohoo! SCORE!

[Steve83]

Rembrant wrote

(The bracket that sits under the coil spring lower mount, on top of the radius arm). Do you know if this bracket was the same from 1980-up? Was the same one used on 2wd and 4x4 trucks?

The spring spacers on my Bronco axles are cast with "4x4" in them, so that tells me the 2WD trucks use different ones.  IIRC, it's on the surface with the plastic/rubber spring pad.

Rembrant wrote

...rear swaybar that is supposed to be for an F150 with an 8.8 rear end.

FuzzFace2 wrote

...if it fits an 81 front & rear with 9"

AFAIK, the bar is the same for 9" & 8.8".  Later 8.8s got slightly-different tube brackets to fit the slightly-different center castings, but they're easy to modify either way.  I'm using old (I can't remember what I took them from) rear brackets on the '04 E150 8.8" under the Bronco.

[Rembrant]

gtanns wrote

I'm looking for a front sway bar for my 1980 f150 4x4 ... have you installed the front sway bar ? Did it fit??

gtanns,

I bought front and rear swaybars, but so far have only installed the rear. The front is all powder coated and ready to go, I just haven't put it in there yet.

As far as I know, for the 1/2 ton trucks, the bars were all the same...it's just the mounting points/brackets that changed. The good news is that you can swap in a swaybar from a 1996 F150 4x4. The mounting pads that sit under the coil springs have changed a few times over the years, but I think they can all be modified to fit easily enough.

For example, at some point either in the late 1980's or early 1990's, Ford starting casting the mounting pads with a little nub on the bottom that fit into a little slot in the front end of the radius arms. I assume this was done to "clock" the mounting pad correctly during assembly (anybody?).

Same thing with where the bars mounted to the chassis. Some mount to the front crossmember below the rad, and some mounted to the left and right frame rails. Same thing with the rears...the bars were the same, but the ends links were different lengths between 2wd and 4x4, and the axle mounting brackets were different between 9" and 8.8".

In any case, it's a pretty straight forward swap. I've read enough threads where guys went to the junkyard and took front and rear bars and brackets from a 1993 and installed directly on their 1983 without issue, it's a swap you don't have to worry much about.

[Rembrant]

Steve83 wrote

The spring spacers on my Bronco axles are cast with "4x4" in them, so that tells me the 2WD trucks use different ones.  

They are indeed different. The 4x4 spacers are a little thinner...at least some of them are, and the bolt hole in the 4x4 spacers is smaller. I have a 4x4 set I believe from a 1991 that I'm going to use on my 1984 2wd. I'll have to drill the main hole out in a center, but other than that they will work just fine.

[1986F150Six]

Blacktop wrote

Do any companies make aftermarket sway bars for bullnose trucks?
Would love to fit front and rear swaybars to mine but being in the UK, our scrapyards over here arent exactly full of them!

https://www.amazon.com/Addco-768-Sway-Bar-Kit/dp/B000CF9FBI

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/aco-k1-341-0u/overview/make/ford/model/f-150/submodel/xlt

https://www.amazon.com/Hellwig-7490-Rear-Sway-Bar/dp/B004J3AH8E/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=78202818298942&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=hellwig+sway+bars&qid=1562009688&s=automotive&sr=1-1&vehicle=1984-54-666------------2&vehicleName=1984+Ford+F-150

https://www.amazon.com/Hellwig-7489-Front-Sway-Bar/dp/B004J38OOI/ref=sr_1_2?hvadid=78202818298942&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=hellwig+sway+bars&qid=1562009714&s=automotive&sr=1-2&vehicle=1984-54-666------------2&vehicleName=1984+Ford+F-150

Check the application closely, as I was in a hurry.

[DLESTER]

I need the cross member that the sway bars mount to. Do you have a part numbed for this or know were i can get one.

Thanks

[Gary Lewis]

Welcome to the Bullnose Forum!  Glad you joined.  

But you probably missed the email I sent you asking that you go to the New Members Start Here folder, read the guidelines, and then post an introduction there.  It is important you have a chance to read the guidelines as we hold everyone to them.

So please go through that process and then we can discuss the sway bars.