Fact: Americans love their cars. It's true – from vanity license plates to rims, custom chrome and other aftermarket modifications, owners do what they can to make their vehicle as personally reflective as possible. Of the many different modifications an owner can make - especially truck or SUV owners - installing a leveling kit is truly unique.

Perfect for improving towing and load capacity, leveling kits are designed to raise the truck body away from the axles to fit larger tires and increase ground clearance. The leveling kit involves hardware to slightly raise the front of the vehicle so it matches (is 'level with') the stock height in the back.

With many different brands of leveling kits on the market, ReadyLIFT is the industry standard. Before making a decision, get to know some of the basics:

• Most trucks arrive from the factory with a “raked” stance which means the rear of the truck sits slightly higher than the front. This added height prevents the rear suspension from completely bottoming out under a heavy load.
• The advantage of the raked stance is two-fold: a) It stops premature wear on bushings and shocks and b) maintains decent handling when hauling cargo.
• Leveling kits are very simple and typically include things like coil spacers, strut extensions, or torsion keys (depending on your truck’s suspension). Many can be installed without having to jack up your vehicle.
• The leveling kit your vehicle needs depends on its type of suspension:
  • Strut extension kits are basically a spacer that fits on top of the factory struts typically found on late-model half ton trucks and SUVs.
  • Replacement torsion keys are for trucks with torsion bar front suspension and helps raise the front end by swapping in a new torsion bar key indexed differently than the stock unit.
  • The coil spacer kit is precisely what the name suggests - it fits into the factory coil spring pocket and raises the front of the truck without negatively changing the factory ride quality.

Advantages of a leveling kit

• Relatively inexpensive
• The kit is easy to install
• Leveling kits create a slightly more aggressive stance to the vehicle
• Leveling kits can accommodate slightly larger tires

Disadvantages of a leveling kit

• Leveling kits offer a limited amount of lift
• Leveling kits provide minimal changes to look and style of truck or SUV

Obviously, leveling kits are vehicle-specific and not "one size fits all." Like anything, know that you'll get what you pay for so don't try to cut corners. Cheaper leveling kits are usually made from cast material rather than forged and will eventually break down…and they will break down!

So, if you're doing some heavy-duty hauling or towing, CarWorx can offer you the best options that ReadyLIFT has to offer. Although leveling kits are relatively easy to install, that's not a green light to attempt to install it yourself. CarWorx has more than 20 years of experience and prides itself on its history of happy, return customers. Call us today and we'll see to it your truck or SUV gets the right leveling kit and out on the road as quickly as possible!