How to Choose a Lift Kit for Your Truck

Choosing the right lift kit depends on how you use your truck. Here's what MST Motorsports recommends for Southern Utah drivers — from daily commuters to trail runners.

How to Choose a Lift Kit for Your Truck — A Southern Utah Guide

A lift kit is one of the most common truck modifications we install at MST Motorsports in Washington, Utah. There are dozens of brands, lift heights and kit types, and the right one depends on how the truck gets used.

The wrong lift kit wastes money and can create handling problems, premature tire wear and, at the extreme, safety issues. The right one improves capability and appearance while keeping ride quality and reliability.

Here's how to choose the right lift kit based on how you actually use your truck in Southern Utah.

Step 1: Define Your Primary Use

Before looking at any lift kit, answer this question honestly: What do you do with your truck 80% of the time?

Daily Driver / Highway

If your truck is primarily a commuter or highway vehicle, you want a lift that improves appearance and ground clearance without sacrificing ride quality or fuel economy.

Best Options:

2-3" leveling kit (front only)
2-4" suspension lift with quality shocks
Avoid anything over 4" unless you're willing to accept trade-offs

Weekend Off-Roader

If you hit trails at Sand Hollow or explore backcountry roads regularly but still drive to work during the week, you need a balance of off-road capability and on-road comfort.

Best Options:

4-6" suspension lift with adjustable shocks
Long-travel systems for desert running
Consider brands like Fox, King, or Icon for tunable performance

Work Truck / Towing

If you tow trailers, haul heavy loads, or use your truck for work, the lift kit must account for payload and towing dynamics.

Best Options:

2-4" lift with heavy-duty springs or airbag assist
Avoid excessive lift heights that raise the center of gravity
Steering stabilizers are essential for towing stability

Dedicated Off-Road / Rock Crawling

If your truck sees serious trail time — rock crawling, overlanding, or desert racing — performance is the priority.

Best Options:

6"+ suspension lift with long-travel components
Coilover conversion for maximum adjustability
Full suspension geometry correction (drop brackets, diff drop, etc.)

Step 2: Understand Lift Kit Types

Leveling Kits (1-3")

What It Is: Spacers or torsion key adjustments that raise the front to match the rear
Pros: Affordable, maintains factory ride quality, allows larger tires
Cons: Front-only lift, limited clearance improvement
Best For: Daily drivers wanting a more aggressive stance

Body Lifts (1-3")

What It Is: Spacers between the body and frame
Pros: Affordable, doesn't change suspension geometry
Cons: Doesn't improve ground clearance, visible gaps, bumper alignment issues
Best For: Fitting larger tires on a budget; a suspension lift is usually the better route

Suspension Lifts (2-8"+)

What It Is: Complete suspension system replacement or modification
Pros: Real ground clearance, improved capability, room for larger tires
Cons: More expensive, may require additional modifications, alignment essential
Best For: Anyone serious about off-road capability or significant tire upgrades

Coilover Conversions

What It Is: Replacing factory shocks/springs with adjustable coilover units
Pros: Adjustable damping and ride height, improved ride quality, the most tunable of the four types
Cons: Expensive, requires professional installation and tuning
Best For: Performance builds, desert running, serious off-road use

Step 3: Choose the Right Brand

These are the brands we trust and recommend at MST Motorsports:

Premium Tier

Icon Vehicle Dynamics — Adjustable coilover systems, good ride quality, backed by a warranty
King Shocks — Desert-racing background, remote reservoirs, rebuildable
Fox Racing — Widely used in off-road performance, wide range of options
Carli Suspension — Specifically engineered for each truck platform

Performance Tier

BDS Suspension — Complete kits, mid-range pricing, backed by a warranty
Cognito Motorsports — GM truck focus, well-engineered components
ReadyLIFT — Good leveling kits and mid-range lifts
Rough Country — Budget-priced kits with wide application coverage

What to Avoid

No-name kits from Amazon or eBay
Any kit without a warranty
Kits that don't include all necessary hardware and brackets
Extremely cheap kits that cut corners on materials

Step 4: What Else the Install Needs

The kit is not the whole job. A proper installation that performs well and lasts also needs:

Post-Lift Alignment (Required)

Every lift kit changes your suspension geometry. Align the truck after the kit goes on. At MST Motorsports, we align every lifted truck to manufacturer specs adjusted for the new geometry.

Steering Correction

Lifts over 3" typically require steering geometry correction — drop pitman arms, adjustable track bars, or steering stabilizers.

Brake Line Extensions

Taller lifts need extended brake lines to prevent stretching or damage.

Driveshaft Modifications

Lifts over 4" on 4WD trucks often require driveshaft spacers or a new driveshaft to correct angles.

Bump Stop Extensions

Limits suspension compression so the shocks don't bottom out and the tires don't contact the fenders.

Lift Kit Installation at MST Motorsports

Lift kits go on Ford, Chevy, Ram, Toyota and GMC trucks at the shop in Washington, Utah. The install is a suspension setup rather than a parts swap: components torqued to spec, geometry checked, caster corrected for the new ride height, and the truck put on the Hunter HawkEye Elite rack before it goes back out.

What the job involves:

Brand and height matched to how the truck gets used — towing, trail, daily driving
Torque specs and install procedure followed through the build
Post-lift alignment on the Hunter rack, with caster and toe set for the new geometry
A road test and a look over the vehicle before handoff
A conversation about what to re-torque and when

MST Motorsports | 987 S 1900 E, Washington, UT 84780 | 435-256-8899

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MST Motorsports — 987 S 1900 East, Washington, UT 84780. Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Call (435) 256-8899 · Text us · Book online.

How to Choose a Lift Kit for Your Truck — A Southern Utah Guide