If you off-road a lot, lifting a truck is inevitable. The extra ground clearance will come in handy when crawling over rocks or wading through pools of water. The extra wheel articulation will help your truck handle rough terrain better but it will definitely have an impact on how the truck rides on the highway.
The truth is not all lifted trucks in Phoenix Arizona are the same. The way your truck will handle after the lift job will depend on the quality of the lift kit and how many inches you add to the suspension. Here is a quick breakdown of what to expect after lifting the truck:
A Gentle High-Quality Lift Won’t Have a Huge Impact
Adding an inch or two by using a high-quality lift kit might not have a profound impact on your truck. Actually, if you use better than stock suspension components, you might end up with a more comfortable ride and better handling.
A Body Lift Only Changes Your Truck’s Center of Gravity
The cheapest and most common truck lift involves adding some blocks or spaces to the existing suspension to lift the truck’s body higher. In most cases, body lifts just increase the space between the tires and the tire wells hence giving you room for bigger tires.
It doesn’t necessarily lit your axle’s clearance – even though the bigger tires will definitely take care of this. Body lifts as low as 2 inches will affect your truck’s stability at high speeds since the center of gravity has changed with the shock absorbers and coil-over spring characteristics remaining the same.
Suspension Lifts Always Yield Better Results
If you are a serious off-roading buff, you should save up and do a complete suspension lift. A proper lift entails lifting core parts of the suspension, driveshaft, and transmission. Expect to swap:
- Shock absorbers and coil springs
- Leaf springs and control arms
- Trailing arms
- The drive shaft and steering components
- ECU reprogramming to accommodate the new component parameters
A good suspension lift gives you better articulation, more ground clearance, and bigger wheels. This culminates in better off-road capabilities.
Since every part of your new suspension is built to work together, your truck will be safer. Despite this, you should still expect:
- More body roll around corners. The extra articulation and softer springs are good on the track but will wobble when maneuvering at highway speeds
- Your truck might glide over potholes more gracefully. The bigger tires and softer suspension is better at soaking up any highway bumps
- Your fuel consumption will go up
Bottom Line
If you are thinking of lifting your truck, ensure that you save up enough money to spend on a high-quality lift kit. You should also take your truck to a professional mechanic who specializes in lifting trucks. You don’t want to do a cheap job that gives you slight clearance but ends up spoiling parts of your truck’s suspension, steering or drive train since they too weren’t adapted to the new ride height.