I am the owner of an auto repair shop, and I have to deal with a lot of customers who want to lift their trucks.
But why?
This is because installing a lift kit for your truck can really benefit it in many ways, like giving it better ground clearance, letting you be able to fit larger tires, smoother rides, and more.
But they do not know what a lift kit is and what parts it might come with. And because of this, some make the wrong decisions.
So what do you need to lift a truck?
What you need to lift a truck depends from lift kit to lift kit. For spacer lift kits, you only need the spacers. And for suspension lift kits, you might need suspension components like control arms, spacers, shock absorbers, different types of brackets, sway bar links, struts, and other parts.
Components You Need to Lift a Truck
You can easily install coil spring spacers or strut spacers if you want to install a spacer lift kit on your truck.
But a spacer lift is not always the right idea if you want better ride quality and better performance from your truck.
And a suspension lift?
Well, if you want a suspension lift kit, you might have to install a lot more components that include shock absorbers, control arms, sway bar links, and more.
So you need to replace the old stock components with these new aftermarket components you get in a lift kit.
Now I will talk about all these components and why you need them!
Coil Spring
If your vehicle has a coilover suspension and you want to install a lift kit on your truck, you can easily replace the shock coil springs with newer and longer ones.
The new coil springs can support the frame’s corners of your truck and store energy that comes from going through bums on the road by absorbing their shock.
And these coil springs, which are compression springs, are essential components of your truck’s suspension as they make you ride smoother through the absorption of impacts.
On off-roads too!
Yeah, you could drive even more smoothly if you are going through tough terrains because of the new coil springs and their expansion and compression.
But you would need to replace the factory ones with longer aftermarket coil springs when you lift your truck.
Why so?
This is because these longer coil springs can help lift the truck alone while giving your vehicle more support.
Moreover, the new coil springs will come in handy if the stock ones are starting to wear out because of over-usage.
Spring rates can be adjusted!
Yeah, if you want to make your ride much stiffer, you can easily adjust the spring rates of the new coil springs to your desired rates.
And these new coil springs will already give you a boost, as they will come with fresh spring rates.
For instance,
To tackle bumps and obstacles of the road and off-road, you can adjust the spring rates of your new coil springs to make the ride stiffer.
Or if you want the spring rates to be looser for driving through roads in your day-to-day life, you can adjust them again.
A bit expensive!
Coil springs can come with a coilover suspension lift kit, which is usually on the expensive side of the lift kit, but they are worth the price.
Plus, you can decide what sort of material you want the coil springs to be made out of to give you a better handling experience and your truck great stability.
This is why you should look for coil springs that are made of high-grade steel with epoxy or even urethane coating to give them durability.
Coil diameter and the number of coils!
Aftermarket coil springs can support much more weight if the number of coils is greater. But you shouldn’t opt for too many coils, as they coil damage the components of your suspension.
And the smaller the diameter, the better. This is because it becomes easier for your truck to carry heavier loads because of coil springs with smaller diameters.
The type!
You get to choose from three types of coil springs, variable rate, constant rate, and dual rate coil springs.
Constant rate coil springs are uniform, and they can improve the ride quality of your truck by decreasing roll and pitch.
I say the variable ones are better, as they are not levelly spacers out, giving you the best ride that is smoother.
So if you install a coilover suspension lift kit with coil springs on your truck, your truck will be better off.
Shock Absorbers
Lifting your truck will add more height and ground clearance, which means you need to install new shock absorbers.
They need to be longer!
Yes, you have to get newer and longer shock absorbers for your truck, depending on the additional lift height you are getting.
You might be in a bit of a bad situation if you do not use new, longer shock absorbers to replace the old ones.
Why, though?
The bad situation you will have to face with your stock shocks after lifting your truck is a process called the topping out process.
Because of the short length of the stock shock absorbers, they can’t move throughout the increased (because of lifting) suspension travel.
Then what?
The pistons of your shock absorbers will start to hit the shock cylinder head in a continuous manner.
Because of this continual hitting of the pistons, the shock’s internal rebound stops and the mounts will get damaged.
And when it keeps on happening over and over again, there is no way the upper and lower mounts of your shock absorbers will survive.
Eventually, you will have damaged pistons in your hands that will make the cylinder head of the shocks start to leak oil.
The shocks will become useless in the end!
This is why coilover suspension lift kits come with new shock absorbers. But if you install another type of lift kit, you should get new shocks.
