I installed the Hellwig 7760 Anti Sway Bar and the Vancompass Rear Differential Skid Plate today.
I started off fitting the Rear Diff Skid Plate from Vancompass. I soon realized that in 2018, Ford must have added a Mass Dampener to the Rear Diff. I was advised to simply remove it, but given the long history these Transits have with driveshaft issues – finally resolved in 2018, I didn’t want to upset anything. There had to be a reason Ford stuck this there so instead, I modified the bracket with some grinding and then welded a reinforcement plate to it so it would clear the Mass Dampener. Aside from the modification, the install went rather easy and that red skid plate sure does look good under there.
Once the Skid Plate was mounted, I turned my attention to the Hellwig 7760 Anti Sway Bar. I’m going to be running a lot of weight in this van so I wanted to make sure she stays stable. I’ll most likely be adding a helper leaf too in the future, but for now, I will see how she sits once completed.
Unlike the Skid Plate, the Hellwig 7760 was not a straight bolt on, as it was supposed to. The mounting holes for the U Plate that holds the D Bushing did not line up with the factor holes. I ended up having to grind the holes on the shock mount into an oval so they would line up with the bracket supplied by Hellwig. It was only off by a 1/4″, but that is a lot when you need to be exact. Once that was done, the rest of the install went quick and easy. While many people upgrade their existing Anti Sway Bar to the heavy duty Hellwig version, my van did not come with one. Thankfully, the 7760 kit included everything I needed to mount it, even though I was originally told it did not.
By the end of the day, I was finished with all my Underbody projects I am doing here in Oregon. The Lift Kit will wait until I am back in Washington where I have access to an indoor garage with a nice level concrete floor. Working on gravel with a vehicle on a slant here is not where I want to have it all jacked up for the lift systems.
Hellwig 7760 Anti Sway Bar: https://amzn.to/2IdQWnl
Vancompass Rear Differential Skid Plate: https://vancompass.com/…differential-skid-plate-2013
