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While a majority of 4-wheel drive truck owners are interested in lifting or leveling their trucks, there are also many 2-wheel drive truck owners who are looking for the opposite effect. If you're thinking the lowered look is more suited to your taste, Viper Motorsports in Weatherford, TX has you covered. In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of lowering your ride, and the items necessary to get your truck a little lower to the ground. It is important to lower your truck or SUV right the first time in order to avoid any damage to vital steering and suspension components. At Viper Motorsports we offer complete lowering kits that include all the necessary parts needed to create the custom look you desire, while ensuring proper alignment, performance & safety.

Lowering Your Truck:

Advantages:

It goes without saying that lowering your truck moves the vehicle’s center of gravity closer to the ground. This typically results in better handling, improved traction, less lean in corners and a reduced risk of rollover. A lowered vehicle will typically have improved aerodynamics; there's less air hitting the wheels and tires and other items underneath that are not streamlined shapes. As a result, some owners of lowered trucks may notice that they get improved gas mileage, on the other hand lowering a truck too much can actually increase wind drag and potentially reduce gas mileage.

Disadvantages:

This is probably a no-brainer but, we’ll cover it anyway… The main disadvantage of a lowered truck is having less ground clearance. Once your vehicle is lowered, you will need to pay closer attention to uneven terrain, speed bumps, pot holes, etc. If you're not careful, you may find yourself bottoming out. Lowering your vehicle dramatically alters steering geometry as well as your wheel-tire fitment. If not done correctly, your truck may end up with alignment issues that  create premature or uneven tire wear patterns. Finally, ride comfort can suffer quite a bit if the vehicle is lowered excessively.

Truck Lowering Kits from Viper Motorsports in Weatherford, Texas

At Viper Motorsports, we sell and install lowering kits on Ford F150, Chevy/GMC Silverado/Sierra, Chevy/GMC Tahoe, Dodge/Ram, Yukon, Yukon XL, Suburban & Avalanche, Chevy/GMC Colorado/Canyon, Trailblazer/Envoy, Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra and more. We utilize kits and parts from top manufacturers like Belltech, Eibach and McGaughys Suspension Parts.

Our complete lowering kits include all the necessary components to achieve the look, alignment, performance and safety you need.  We offer a variety of lowering components and alignment pieces packaged in complete kits for the most popular sport trucks and SUVs. We offer complete lowering kits with or without shocks.

How to Lower Your Truck

Now that you’ve decided to lower your truck, it’s time to decide how you'll go about it. There are a few options depending on your vehicles suspension and how low you want to go.

Drop Spindles: Drop spindles offer a 2- or 3-inch FRONT END DROP depending on vehicle application without negatively affecting steering geometry or suspension. Replacing your OEM spindles with drop spindles relocates the mounting point higher on the spindle casting… pretty simple. Quality drop spindles will maintain critical suspension geometry while eliminating excessive ball joint, shock and tire wear.

Lowering Shackles and Hangers: Lowering shackles and hangers are designed to lower the REAR of a leaf sprung truck or SUV. They reposition the rear leaf spring mounting points, moving the existing leaf springs closer to a vehicle’s frame. This retains OEM ride quality since the OEM springs were not changed.

Lowering Coil Springs: Lowering springs are basically shorter coil springs than the OEM coil springs. All Belltech coil springs are manufactured from chromium alloy steel and are wound, shot peened and powder coated to exact specifications to assure the proper ride height, ride quality and long life.

Lowering Leaf Springs: Lowering leaf springs have a recalculated arch and are compensated with the appropriate spring rate through advanced manufacturing techniques, Most lowering leaf springs are designed to effectively lower the rear of your leaf spring equipped Truck or SUV by up to 4 inches depending on application.

Axle Flip Kits and C-Notch Kits: If you are interested in dramatically lowering your ride height (5-8 inches), you will likely need to go with an axle flip kit. This approach relocates the trucks leaf springs underneath the axle. Installation of axle flip kits can involve extensive cutting, drilling and even welding so expect to pay more for an axle flip kit than you would drop spindles, lowering shackles and lowering springs. Most axle flip kits will also require that a rear portion of the frame be C-notched and a C-notch kit be installed. This will allow for more upward travel of the rear suspension without bottoming out. Most high quality C-Notch Kits are manufactured with heavy duty stamped steel designed to exactly match the factory frame rails of the truck or SUV. We suggest that any truck lowered more than 3 inches in the rear would benefit from a C-notch kit.

Lifting/Lowering Struts: Trucks that are running the McPherson type front struts can benefit greatly from the installation of lifting/lowering struts from Belltech. Lifting/lowering struts allow you to fine tune the ride height of your truck’s front end. You can lift the front end by up to 2” to eliminate the factory rake, or you can lower the vehicle as much as 3 inches (select applications) in half inch increments with the same part. (Depending on application)

Can stock wheels and tires be used after lowering your truck?
In most cases the answer would be yes but, certain scenarios may require some minor trimming of the lower control arm to clear a factory wheel. Of course, this all depends on the amount of drop and the vehicle application. Often a smaller tire will need to be installed to avoid rubbing issues in the inner fender.

Driveline Angle Issues: Some lowered vehicles may experience driveline vibration do to improper driveline angle. Because many trucks use a center carrier bearing for a two-piece driveshaft, vibrations can sometimes occur. To resolve this issue, many flip kits include a spacer to lower the center carrier bearing that corrects the driveshaft angle.

Get the Quality Brand Lowering Kits for your Truck or SUV at Viper Motorsports in Weatherford Texas.
There are several manufacturers that offer complete systems to eliminate the guesswork of obtaining the right components to lower your truck or SUV. If you have any questions about lowering your ride, give us a call at (817) 609-8001 or stop and see us at 902 Fort Worth Hwy in Weatherford Texas. We have financing available with NO CREDT NEEDED. You can apply online at vipermotorsports.com and get an approval in just minutes.