Carli Suspension 2005-2022 Ford Low Mount Steering Stabilizer

Carli suspension started from the ground up to create the best steering stabilizers on the market for the Ford platform, and the low mount is part of that endeavor. Eliminate road feedback into the steering, and improve drivability on your Ford. The Carli Low Mount stabilizer fits 05-2022 Ford Duper Duty F-250 and F350 trucks.

Please note the upgrade part number does not include the front front differential guard. It’s intended for those already in possession of a Carli Differential Guard with the integrated Steering Stabilizer bracket. If you have a pre-existing Carli Differential Guard without this stabilizer mount, you’ll need the updated differential guard that comes with CS-FLMSS-05.

Minimizing resonation from encountered road obstacles into the front end parts is KEY to combating front end issues like death wobble. We’ve always offered a high mount stabilizer to combat steering wheel feedback in these trucks. The stainless steel design is far superior to the factory unit boasting a custom valve profile improving control of larger aftermarket wheel and tire combinations, offered adjustability to combat right-hand tire pull and is fully rebuildable all while bolting into the factory location ensuring it’s not susceptible to trail damage like many aftermarket stabilizer units are that mount in front of lower steering linkage.

So why the low-mount? 2 Stabilizers is better than one, simply put. This is a general statement – sure, but it applies when looking at OUR product. The high mount braces the Drag link (upper steering linkage bar connecting the passenger side wheel to the pitman arm) close to the pitman arm, itself. The wheels/tires are pretty far from the point of stabilization. Think about it as though you’re trying to control someone’s hand movements by holding their bicep.

With a good enough shock and enough valving, this is doable but adding a second stabilizer to the tie-rod (steering bar connecting Driver and Passenger knuckles) eases the load on the upper stabilizer while providing damping at the mid-point between the two tires further from the steering gear itself. The Low-mount steering stabilizer would actually provide a better feel than the high mount if you’re only going to run ONE stabilizer. Also, this is not limited to lifted/leveled vehicles and can be run on ANY Super Duty with a stock tie-rod.

If both stabilizers are run, one stabilizer per steering bar (Drag link and Tie-rod) means there’s no flop/rocking in the steering, the steering dampers work in every direction (The lower stabilzer dampens left and right, upper stabilizer dampens left/right AND angular load into the gearbox). This optimizes control of larger aftermarket tires while minimizing steering wheel feedback (rocking of the wheel when you encounter a bump). Lastly and perhaps most important for those seeking adjustment, the stabilizers run a true opposing setup; they effectively push against each other. The High mount pushes toward the driver’s side when pressurized and low mount pushes toward the passenger allowing infinite adjustability for whatever radial pull one may encounter.

For you “thru-shaft” stabilizer fans, running BOTH stabilizers eliminates the shaft fluid displacement issue the thru shaft was designed to combat. Running both stabilizers parallel ensures that the fluid displacement when turning thanks to the shaft entering the stabilizer body is offset by the same amount of shaft leaving the body of the other stabilizer. Additionally, with our dual setup, you have the ability to dial in nitrogen pressures to combat tire pull VS. cranking the adjuster on a thru-shaft stabilizer until the pull disappears leaving you with overly tight steering with massive under-steer that won’t return to center.

The Low Mount Stabilizer features a Stainless Steel body, hardened Nitride Shafts, and precision bearings for long-lasting performance and appearance. The Stabilizer runs behind the tie-rod to ensure it’s protected. One side mounts to our redesigned Differential Guard, the other side secures to our Billet Clamp with out high-misalignment stud. The differential guard boasts Boxed 3/16″ construction and utilizes factory diff cover holes.

There are two configurations for mounting the stabilizer to the differential guard itself. We, of course, designed this setup to work with our 2.5″-5.5″ Lift  Systems.

To clear the track bar on our 2.5″ & 3.5″ Systems, the stabilizer is mounted to the bottom of the Diff-Skid bracket with two bearing spacers and the provided longer bolt. Spacing the bracket is a provided crush sleeve. This provides ample clearance for the bend in our adjustable track bar throughout the entire travel stroke.

In the 4.5″-5.5″ configuration, the shorter, provided, bolt is utilized to install the stabilizer within the double-shear bracket.

In both configurations, the stabilizer connects to the tie-rod assembly with our in-house machined, hard anodized billet steering clamp utilizing our 17-4 Stainless steel high-misalignment stud.

Applications:

2005-07 Super Duty:

No High mount is available thanks to the factory stem-top shock mounting style. We recommend the Fox 985-24-035. It’s a good-quality stabilizer but the frame bracket requires substantial clearance to fit the stem-top Fox shock.

• Low Mount Steering Stabilizer: Carli Differential Guard and tie-rod clamp provide mounting provision for this stabilizer. A higher nitrogen charge pushes to the Right to counter-act a Left Hand Tire Pull.

2008-16 Super Duty:

Adds ability to run the High-Mount.

• Low Mount Steering Stabilizer: Carli Differential Guard and tie-rod clamp provide mounting provision for this stabilizer. A higher nitrogen charge pushes to the Right to counter-act a Left Hand Tire Pull.
• High Mount Steering Stabilizer: Installs up and out of the way with the provided frame hardware and Drag-Link Bracket. A higher nitrogen charge pushes to the left to counter-act a Right Hand Tire Pull. Combine with a Carli Low-Mount for a true, infinitely adjustable stabilization system for optimal damping with any tire.

2017-21 Super Duty:

Same as 2008-16 but the high mount runs a short rod-end at the drag link bracket.

• Low Mount Steering Stabilizer: Carli Differential Guard and tie-rod clamp provide mounting provision for this stabilizer. A higher nitrogen charge pushes to the Right to counter-act a Left Hand Tire Pull.
• High Mount Steering Stabilizer: Installs up and out of the way with the provided frame hardware and Drag-Link Bracket. A higher nitrogen charge pushes to the left to counter-act a Right Hand Tire Pull. Combine with a Carli Low-Mount for a true, infinitely adjustable stabilization system for optimal damping with any tire.

What is a Steering Stabilizer?

Contrary to popular belief, It’s not a magic cure for a wandering truck and it won’t fix your death-wobble. Well, it may mask Death Wobble and certainly helps ward it off by damping front-end forces leading to it but, I digress – read our other blog article if you’re after a fix for death wobble… A steering Stabilizer is simply a damper designed for your steering. A Steering Damper’s purpose is to increase steering predictability while minimizing volatility, road noise and driver fatigue. Simply put, a good steering stabilizer will stabilize the steering; shocker, right?

Stock Steering Stabilizers are designed for stock steering and stock tires. They work well in this application (for about 50,000 miles) and ONLY this application. Throw on a Carli kit and some 35” or 37” tires and you’ll be left wanting. When the tire size increases, the stabilizer should be upgraded as well. Larger, aftermarket tires are significantly heavier and harder to control than factory tires, even in on-road applications.

Types of Stabilizers:

There are two main types of aftermarket stabilizers, Emulsion and IFP (Internal Floating Piston). Both are “gas” charged and contain oil. Emulsion shocks are significantly cheaper than their IFP counterpart. These dampers mix the oil with the gas charge. Although the oil is pressurized by the gas, emulsion shocks do not function well in horizontally mounted applications; i.e. steering stabilizers. When mounted on its side, the oil rests on the bottom as it’s heavier than the gas which rises to the top. The result, a piston that’s only half-submerged in oil. When the piston starts working back and forth, it’s sloshing and foaming the oil offering almost no damping. These are the stabilizers you’ll normally find in cheaper, dual steering stabilizer kits that are more for aesthetics than performance.

These are abundant. A quick google search for “Emulsion Shock” or “Twin Tube Shock” will reveal their short life, tiny pistons and piss-poor ability to control suspension or steering. The only box they check… CHEAP.

Ensuring maximum utilization of the proprietary valving, ALL Carli Stabilizers are IFP Shocks. In short, the IFP shock boasts a second piston internal to the shock body know as the Dividing piston (noted by the Green O-Ring in the below picture). This secondary piston separates the nitrogen cavity (RED) from the oil (Blue). This allows the shock to be run in any orientation – i.e. on it’s side (stabilizer) – as the adjustable nitrogen charge pressurizes the oil cavity ensuring the piston is always submerged thus engaging the proprietary valving on the piston as efficiently as possible.

The nitrogen charge pressurizing the oil cavity also increased the heat-tolerance of the oil while eliminating cavitation (foaming).

Materials:

The main talking point is what stands this stabilizer head and shoulders above all other stabilizers – the body is made of solid 304 Stainless Steel. The raw-machined finish of this stabilizer attracts machinists and laymen alike; it’s truly a thing of beauty.

At the and of the stainless body you’ll find the aluminum Top-Cap. This cap, machined from a solid piece of billet then anodized black, houses a teflon-lined 1/2″ bearing and o-ring style schrader valve.

The Schrader valve allows the customer to bleed the pre-charged stabilizer. It comes pressurized to 200psi when shipped from our warehouse. Many who add this stabilizer are combating a radial tire pull to the right or left (which direction these stabilizers “push” depend on mounting points/hardware – more on this in “Applications” below). Customers desiring a high-end stabilizer that damps their steering without “pushing” can use the provided cap to lower the pressure of the stabilizer (to a neutral pressure spec: 40-70psi) so the nitrogen charge provides all the IFP functionality without directional compensation.

On the other end of the stabilizer, another billet rod-end houses another 1/2″ bearing. We offer a short and long version of this rod-end depending on application. Mounting provisions often require every-bit of the bearing misalignment of which these stabilizers are capable. To ensure bind-free performance, we machine and pre-install our 17-4 Stainless high-misalignment pins to the rod end, where necessary, to allow even more range of motion for the rod-end bearing.

You’ll likely notice the shaft is darker than our Fox or King offerings – this is due to the nitriding (heat-treat) process. Nitriding the shaft case-hardens (hardens the wear surface) to ensure unapparelled corrosion resistance while increasing the material’s fatigue life. What this means to the laymen, we’ve not seen a single pitted/rusted shaft since the release of our Stainless Stabilizers.

Internals:

Wiping contaminants from the shaft is a plastic gunk-guard. This is the first line of protection keeping road grime from entering the oil.

Pop off the dust cap and remove the snap ring and you’ll find what’s being protected – the main seal housing. There’s shaft-guide and seal within this seal housing secondary to the dust’s caps seal to further prevent debris incursion. The main seal housing functions exactly as its name implies. Secured in place by a snap-ring, this is the main guard against contaminants to the shock internals.

Above the main seal housing is the piston we’ve custom valved for larger, aftermarket tires. This robust valve-stack makes short work of damping road force from transmitting to the steering wheel even with 37″ tires increasing rotating mass by 50% over a stock tire. Abundant are complaints that aftermarket stabilizers will stiffen the steering wheel and prevent the truck from returning to center after a turn requiring manual correction. This is NOT the case with the Carli stabilizers; one could run high and low mount stabilizers with stock tires without experiencing any wheel stiffness. We worked to ensure our stabilizers provide a damped, yet active feel to avoid the numb, stiff feeling found in most aftermarket stabilizer kits.