Do You Need a Lift Kit?

Many truck owners hold a desire to have bigger wheels. Who blames them, right? Frankly, big wheels make a truck look really cool and with big wheels, your life probably wouldn't be so boring and drab.

But besides the obvious physical aesthetics, there are other benefits in getting bigger wheels for your truck. For example, bigger wheels will increase the grip your truck has on the surface, whether it is pavement or dirt. This leads to better handling in poor conditions. Bigger wheels also give your truck more clearance, which means you have less risk getting high-centered while off-roading.

How High?

There are a few ways in which you can get your truck to sit higher up. The easiest way in by simply increasing the size of your tires or getting oversized tires. Another way is to get a bigger set of wheels for your truck. You could also do a combination of both.

The problem lies in the biggest tires you can fit on your truck without having to add a lift kit or make other adjustments. To learn what your truck needs, you have to take some measurements.

Remove your wheels and measure the exact height and width of your tire. If you are getting new wheels, you must measure the backspacing as well.

Put the wheels back on and measure the distance between the tire and all of the parts around it. For example, measure from the tire to the bumper, form the tire to the fender and from the tire to whatever else is in the way. This includes measuring from the tire to the top of the wheel well.

Make all of these same measurements after turning the wheels fully to the right and to the left. Yup, that is a lot of measuring to do.

Now, drive your truck at an angle to a deep gully so that the suspension is at full bump. Remeasure everything again. Turn the wheels to the left and then to the right and get those measurements again.

Go inside and sit down at the dinner table under good lighting. Take a look at all of these measurements and you will get a good idea of the size of tires and wheels you can handle.

If it looks like you will have problems with wheels rubbing, you will need a lift kit.

Lift Kits

There are plenty of advantages in having a lift kit installed. For example, it will give your truck a more intense look, it will give your truck more clearance and it will allow you to install bigger tires.

For many truck owners, bigger is better.