aFe CONTROL Rear Sway Bar

https://afepower.com/afe-power-440-72t005rr-afe-control-rear-sway-bar


What would be the point of this?

 

I would get it just cause its red. Lol

Jk….legit question. Someone will chime in with a good answer.

 

I purchased the TRD sway for my ‘14 and ‘18, and it was one of the best things I added to those trucks ( a lot cheaper than the AFE bar). My ‘22 doesn’t seem to have near the body roll, so I can’t really justify it in my head. It will look really cool being red and all, and as an added bonus you get to give AFE almost $500 for a bent piece of steel.

 

It depends on how you drive your truck and what you are looking for. A rear sway bar that is more stiff than OEM will reduce understeer.

 

They sent this to me on May 25th

 

Bump

 

Yeah, their benders been down since before 5/17

 

Cheer up, bender

 

Red will rust away after a few years! My Neuspeed Sway Bars were red and then orange. Not the desired orange!

Swaybars are the offroaders nemesis. Great for road performance but prevents articulation.

That’s why some manufacturers offer swaybar disconnects.

Save the money for some other toys for your truck. There are lots!

 

That’s exactly what I want.

 

To each their own on this. My truck is mostly road driving, hauling yard stuff, running semi-improved dirt road with infrequent hard off roading. So, to me and I would bet 75% of the other members, this is a very similar profile. Also, note the enhancement this bar provides when towing.
One point in my opinion, all benefits of suspension upgrades start with the tires. Current TRD PRO tires are pretty weak. I plan to change these out this winter and with decent rubber matching my driving requirements.

 

I put a Hellwig rear bar on my old Tacoma and it helped its street handling a lot. But that truck did not come with one at all when stock. I could see going to a stiffer bar on the Tundra to tighten up the understeer a bit so I may look at this more seriously at some point. One question... the AFE site lists 3 variations of stiffness but there is no drop down when you go to order it to select the one you want??

 

There will be three anchor point holes for the chassis end link attaching the bar to the frame. This is the parallel part of the bar with the frame. The Type of spring steel used in bar construction and the anchor point used determines force bar exerts compensating for body role.

 

That makes sense. Making various stiffnesses via heat treatment or alloy selection using the same diameter would get to be too complex and $$. Also nice that it is tuneable.

 

The other factor is the type of end link used. A concern is the OEM end link and is it strong enough hold due to additional force applied? I would hope AFE did test this and confirm. If not, there are adjustable end links out there designed to withstand higher stress applications.

 

TBH, I am not sure about the cost to benefit ratio of this bar. The stock rear bar seems to keep body roll to a manageable level and handling isn't bad at all. A bit less understeer would be nice but I'm not sure it would be worth $500 to find out. But it is red!

 

You should purchase the front TRD bar to balance it out, tune the rear thereafter. I’ve been making this kind of mod to my vehicles for over 40 years.

IMO the truck has a bit too much sway however we already know that Toyota intentionally prefers this type of ride characteristic.

To me it’s definitely worth it, albeit the cost for either bar is pricey.

 

So have I. Some, like my 2009 Tacoma, that had no rear bar at all, need it more than others. My 2023 Tundra in OR trim with a goodly rear bar already in place, IMO, doesn't. YMMV, of course.

 

Just called aFe last week (Friday) and they said it was just released and is now shipping!

 

They said mine will arrive Thursday, June 22nd

 

Just ordered... Because why not

I had a Hellwig sway bar on my Ram truck and it made a huge difference with handling and reducing body lean. Hope this one will be just as helpful

 

Just got an email that it may take 2-3 weeks for them to ship it

 

First Impressions based on short spin:

• Install a major PIA. You have to take off the tail pipe section of exhaust for clearance. Requires you to carefully snake the old bar out and the repeat putting the new bar in place. Not hard, but slow and time consuming. Best to do this on a lift or raise the backend at least six inches for clearance to the ground.
• Bar is well put together and actually surprised how heavy. Didn't weigh it-but its noticeable.
• Set for softest setting that per ACE is 65% greater resistance than stock bar.
• You definitely feel the difference. Less rear body oscillation on bumps with reduced lean in turns. A concern is will the stock end link hold up with this increased resistance-time will tell.

 

I just installed a Hellwig bar. It appears very similar to the aFe bar but enough different that they’re not made by the same manufacturer. Plus not red. Handling is better especially on the front end at turn in. The original bar weighed a little over 15 lbs and Hellwig is over 25 lbs.

I did the install with the truck on the ground. My rear is lifted an inch which is just enough room to roll under on my creeper. I didn’t think I’d be able to get the old bar out with only the driveshaft disconnected but it is possible. Tricky, but possible.

 

A stiffer rear bar will make the truck tend to want to oversteer more which is why it probably feels better in the corners.

I put a Hellwig rear bar on my F150 that didnt have one from the factory and it was an unbelievable difference in how the truck handles. And is doubly true with a trailer. Its so much more confident in corners its hard to explain.

 

Exactly. But not really oversteer, rather understeer less. Unless maybe you overdo the rear bar. I put a Hellwig rear bar on my 2nd gen Tacoma that didn't have one. Huge difference. My Tundra doesn't understeer near as bad as that Tacoma did since it has a pretty good rear bar. So, for now, I just bias the tire pressures a bit, like 2 psi more in the fronts as compared to the rears, like you sometimes do in autocross to tweak your handling. That tightens up the turn in enough for me.

For you guys with the Hellwig, how did it install on the Tundra? My one criticism of the one I put on the Tacoma was that it had cheap zinc hardware. After a few years this stuff corroded so much that it was essentially welded to the truck and would have had to be cut off. I never had to remove it and hopefully the guy I sold it to won't either.

 

I have King adjustable shocks so before the heavier rear bar, I added a few clicks of front damping to help turn-in but now I've backed that off.

As far as hardware, it uses the stock bolts and drop links. The bar clamps and bushings are new. The bushings are poly but the clamps are pretty thin and just painted black. They left the 1-1/4" clamps out of my kit which are needed since it doesn't have the welded on collars like the aFe bar. Hellwig said they send them but I'm still waiting. It's not making any noise so at least it's not banging into the diff.

Speaking of the diff, what's the weight looking thing bolted to it? Damping?

 

Any updates from those of you that got this bar?

 

Well... I've had it installed for about a month or so. I had it installed at same time as my Eibach truck pro shocks and struts.

I have the bar set on the soft setting... Because didn't want to put too much load on the Oem end links (my own logical thinking, may be right or wrong).

Because I had it installed together with eibach suspension, it's hard to tell what this bar does, and how it improves turning and stability. I think that I only felt the difference in the beginning, and then it all became normal, and hard to distinguish.

I think that the bar gave a little bit more stability on turns and reduced sway a little bit. I will have it moved to the middle firmness setting when I'll be installing the front Trd sway bar within a month.

Fyi, eibach has rear sway bar as well. I think the eibach bar is heavier than this afe bar, and eibach seem to have better quality welds (it's actually a single piece vs afe weld a piece on the end) when I compared the two on photos. I would have went with eibach bar if I order it again.

 

Just for future reference

Eibach
https://eibach.com/product/E40-82-096-01-01?epsid=3312

AFE
https://afepower.com/afe-power-440-72t005rr-afe-control-rear-sway-bar

Hellwig

https://www.hellwigproducts.com/sway-bars-helper-springs-2/search/?searchq=7792

Whiteline Performance (never heard of them??):

https://whitelineperformance.com/pr...W3jw9D5yQDct5tMyp6r0lwXDA3ZPmXNsaAsQ2EALw_wcB

Search around from different retailers for the best deal....now part money from your wallet you didn't know you needed to spend.