Hellwig Anti-Sway Bar

Installation for the 5.7 HEMI RAM 1500 (2WD or 4X4)

By Mark Simonds (MrHemi)

Virginia Beach, Virginia

I’ve been looking for an aftermarket anti-sway bar for my Hemi Ram for quite some time… and then out of the blue, one of our HemiTruckClub members posted (on the HTC.com Forum) his success with the Hellwig system.  Before I go any further with this article I want to personally thank Steve (a.k.a. Born Again) for his detailed and honest report of this product.  If it wasn’t for him I probably would have not gone with Hellwig!

The Dodge Ram 1500 HEMI is a great vehicle… very fast, looks fantastic, and for the 2WD models- once the rear end is lowered properly, has pretty good handling around the corners.  But this truck wasn’t designed to handle a sharp turn at high speeds… that’s the reason for an anti-sway bar.

I had looked at the Hellwig anti-sway bars before Steve’s post, but was shied away when I saw the little note at the bottom of the page… “Drilling may be required”.  Those four little words can mean a nightmare for those who are just driveway mechanics.  As it turns out, Steve reported that there was in fact no drilling required whatsoever – so I immediately grabbed the phone with my right hand and pulled my wallet out with my left.

I ordered the Hellwig system from Summit Racing Equipment for $163.39.  Normally Summit Racing is very fast when it comes to parts arriving on my doorstep.  It wasn’t the case this time… seems I wasn’t the only guy who wanted a firmer rear-end!  The sway bars were on the dreaded back-order list, and it ended up taking six weeks to make it to my door.

The overall installation took about an hour and a half in the driveway.  I ran the truck up on a couple of ramps to make things a little easier.  As you can see in the pictures I removed the 20” spare… for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost, the Hellwig system was not going to fit unless I removed the spare – this is due to the fact I had lowered the rear of the truck about three inches.  The Hellwig anti-sway bar is designed to fit perfectly for the Dodge Ram (even with the 20” spare)… unless you lower the rear end.  Then the bar will hit the spare, and that’s not a good thing.  Oh, and the other reason I removed the spare?  It blocked the view of the PML differential cover!  The spare now sits in the bed, centered and held securely by small chains.

The instructions were fairly easy to follow… although I would’ve liked more pictures at different angles.  The two pictures in the instructions were somewhat faded from multiple copying as well.  If you are fairly good with tools you should have no problem with this installation, and again – no drilling required!  Everything fit perfectly and went together per the instructions.  The only thing you really have to watch out for is the brake line on the passenger side of the axle, but it’s fairly easy to bend it slightly to allow room for the brackets.  Another point worth mentioning is lubrication of the bars… it’s in small print on another piece of paper included in the box.  Make sure you grease the inside of the “D” shaped poly-bushing before placing it on the sway bar… this will ensure the thing doesn’t squeak going down the road.

Benefits of Hellwig Anti-Sway Bars (from Hellwig’s web site):

High quality hot formed and heat treated 4140 chrome moly spring steel.
• Reduces body roll so you benefit from better vehicle control.
• Greatly improves cornering traction for safer driving and turning capabilities.
• Distributes weight evenly to all four wheels.
• Every Hellwig Anti-sway bar is engineered and developed for your specific application.
• Lifetime Warranty.

• Fast, easy “Bolt-on” installation with simple hand tools.
• Polyurethane bushings.

If you notice in the picture of the completed installation, I painted the sway bar yellow. I was not impressed about the paint quality of the bar when I opened the box. Steve said the same thing when he received his Hellwig in 
the mail – these bars and all the brackets are not painted very well at all. You’ll definitely want to paint them before installation. I painted mine yellow to match the traction bars I installed a few months ago. The benefits of installing a Hellwig anti-sway bar are felt immediately… better handling in the corners, and the rear of the truck just feels tighter. I highly recommend doing this installation. You won’t hear this statement from too many plastic surgeons: it doesn’t cost all that much to have a firmer rear-end!!