The 6 Best Lift Kits For A Chevy Silverado
Lift kits are great for taking your pickup truck off-road and onto unpaved trails in remote areas. So, what are the best lift kits for the Chevy Silverado? Installing a lift kit on your Chevy Silverado can give you the clearance you need to put on larger tires or to safely navigate extremely rough terrain without worrying about bottoming out or having your tires rub against the wheel wells. With so many different lift kits available for sale for the Chevy Silverado, how do you know which one is the best for you and your pickup truck?
What is the best lift kit for a Chevy Silverado?
The best lift kits for the Chevy Silverado are manufactured by MotoFab Lifts, Rough Country, Air lift, Dynofit, YitaMotor, and Supreme Suspensions. All of these manufacturers make high-quality body and suspension lift kits that are compatible with the Chevy Silverado.
When you are deciding which lift kit you would like installed on your Chevy Silverado, it is not just as simple as going with the best reviewed or the crowd favorite lift kit. Other considerations must be made as well.
Considerations like how many inches should the lift be? Are you planning to do the installation yourself or hire a professional? What about your vehicle warranty? Are there particular lift kits that you can have installed on your Chevy Silverado that do not void the vehicle warranty? Also, how do particular lift kits affect your vehicle’s overall payload and towing capacities? These are the questions that you will want to consider as you are reviewing the different lift kits available for the Chevy Silverado.
Let us take a look at some of the most popular lift kits available for the Chevy Silverado and how they compare in terms of size, installation difficulty, materials, and how they affect overall payload and towing capacities.
Does installing a lift kit on a Chevy Silverado void the warranty?
Installing a lift kit on a Chevy Silverado does not automatically void the vehicle’s warranty, however, there is some gray area here. Essentially, if you install a lift kit and you do so improperly or you break some components on your pickup truck in the process, then the manufacturer may be able to deny any warranty claims.
At the same time, if it can be concluded that the existence of the lift kit directly contributed to damage to the suspension, power train, or any other vehicle components linked to the lift kit, then again, any warranty claims could be denied by the manufacturer.
The safest way to ensure that you can have a lift kit installed and maintain the warranty on your Chevy Silverado is to have a manufacturer-approved lift kit installed on your vehicle by a certified professional. Manufacturer-approved lift kits will be signed off on by the same engineers who designed the Chevy Silverado.
How do lift kits affect payload, fuel economy, and towing capacity?
There are two main types of lift kits available for the Chevy Silverado. When you install a body lift kit on your pickup truck, you can expect that the payload, fuel economy, and towing capacity will not change much. Body lift kits tend to be smaller and are there mostly for aesthetics.
When you have a suspension lift kit installed on your pickup truck, you then are making serious alterations to the vehicle that can affect payload, fuel economy, and towing capacity. In general, having a suspension lift kit installed on your Chevy Silverado will increase payload capacity and decrease fuel economy and towing capacity.
The suspension lift kit will allow your truck to take on heavier loads in the bed of the truck with less sagging reducing your chances of bottoming out or having your tires rub against the wheel wells or fenders.
When it comes to the fuel economy of your vehicle, a suspension lift kit can make your truck less aerodynamic and expose more vehicle components that will increase drag and require your truck to burn more fuel to maintain speed. Also, if you are taking advantage of the increased payload capacity, then heavier loads will reduce fuel economy as well.
When it comes to how towing capacity is affected after the installation of a suspension lift kit, keep in mind that the increased height of the vehicle will make it more difficult to tow normal trailers. Depending on the size of the suspension lift kit that you have installed, you may have to purchase a drop hitch.
Most drop hitches will reduce the overall towing capacity of the truck unless someone is willing to spend a large amount of money to have a drop hitch installed that maintains the original towing capacity of the pickup truck.
What are the pros and cons of installing a lift kit?
As mentioned before, there are two main types of lift kits. Each type of lift kit has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Let us take a closer look at some of the pros and cons of installing one of these types of lift kits on your Chevy Silverado. It is important to be fully aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of installing a lift kit before making your final decision.
Pros of installing a body lift kit
Body lift kits are perfect for Chevy Silverado owners looking for a smaller lift of only a couple of inches that is enough to put on larger tires and to increase the clearance of their vehicle in order to take it off-road and on uneven terrain.
The body lift kit does not require the purchase of new shocks and it mostly retains the original suspension alignment that the engineers had in mind when they designed the truck. Because a body lift kit is not as invasive as a suspension lift kit and because you do not need to purchase new shocks, body lift kits are an economical option for someone who is looking to make their truck off-road ready but does not want to spend thousands of dollars.
Cons of installing a body lift kit
The main disadvantage of body lift kits is that they can make the frame more visible and increase the gaps in the wheel wells. Body lift kits can take a long time to install and offer little performance enhancements for the effort. If you would like to reduce the visibility of the frame, then you may need to purchase gap guards which can add to the overall cost.
Pros of installing a suspension lift kit
A suspension lift kit is ideal for Chevy Silverado owners who are looking for a higher lift than what they could get with a body lift kit. Installing a suspension lift kit allows you to put in a lift of almost any size you desire. Having a higher lift allows you to put on larger tires, increases your vehicle clearance, and enables your vehicle to navigate much rougher terrain.
Cons of installing a suspension lift kit
The main downside of installing a suspension lift kit is that depending on the height, your vehicle is going to drive and handle completely differently.
Even just getting in and out of your truck is going to be more difficult, but when it comes to handling, you will notice that your truck may feel different when you are driving on paved roads and highways.
Also, installing a suspension lift kit can increase your chances of rolling your truck if you take corners or turns at too high of speeds. Last, suspension lift kits cost more, require more maintenance, and have more components that increase the chances of something going long.
Also, installing a suspension lift kit increases the likelihood of voiding your vehicle warranty.
Best lift kits for Chevy Silverado
If you are looking to install a suspension lift kit on your Chevy Silverado that is 100% manufacturer approved and will not violate the terms of your vehicle warranty, then you may want to consider purchasing and installing the Trail Boss Spec Steel Leaf Spring Kit 2-inch lift kit.
This 2-inch lift kit is designed and tested by Chevy engineers to be compatible with the original design of the Chevy Silverado in a way that will not put unnecessary stress on the suspension, frame, or drive train of the truck. There are separate lift kits for 2WD and 4WD Silverado models. It is highly recommended that the 2-inch lift kit be installed by a GMC/Chevy certified technician or mechanic at a certified dealership.
If you are driving an older Chevy Silverado or you are not concerned with voiding the warranty, then you can have your choice of any body or suspension lift kit and do the installation yourself.
The main advantage of having the freedom to choose your own lift kit and install it yourself is that you can save a lot of money during the process. Here are some of the best lift kits for Chevy Silverado.
1. MotoFab Lifts (3-inch front and 2-inch rear lift)
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The MotoFab Lifts 3-inch front and 2-inch rear lift kit can easily be installed if you have the proper tools in under two hours from the comfort of your own garage. This lift kit is compatible with Chevy pickup truck models dating from 2007 to 2018.
The lifts are manufactured from extra-strong black powder-coated aluminum. MotoFab Lifts makes high-quality lift parts at an economical price that come with a lifetime warranty.
2. Rough Country
Rough Country is one of the most trusted brands in the industry when it comes to lift kits. If you check on the Rough Country website, you will find a good number of lift kits that are compatible with the Chevy Silverado. There are lift kits in several different sizes, constructed from various materials, and some that come with all new shocks and some that are just simple body lift kits. When you purchase a Rough Country lift kit, you can know that you are going to receive a superior product that will last a long time with little to no issues.
3. Air Lift
Air Lift is another trusted brand like Rough Country that specializes in manufacturing lift kits for various vehicles. The LoadLifter series is a heavy-duty lift kit product that offers up to 5,000 pounds of load-leveling capacity.
The Air Lift LoadLifter 5000 comes with two air springs and all the necessary mounting brackets and hardware needed for an easy at-home installation. The kit also comes with a full-illustrated installation guide.
4. Dynofit
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Dynofit produces a 2, 2.5, and 3-inch lift kit for Chevy Silverados with model years between 2007 and 2019. This lift kit is incredibly easy to install with basic tools and can be done at home in less than two hours. The parts that come in the lift kit are constructed from aircraft-grade aluminum. Additionally, all the surfaces of the lift kit parts are anodized for corrosion resistance. Each lift kit purchase comes with a full two-year warranty.
5. Yitamotor
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The Yitamotor 3-inch front and 2-inch rear leveling kit is a premium product that many Chevy Silverado owners install in their trucks. The installation is a simple built-on process that can be completed at home within two hours
There are no special tools required for installation. The spaces are made from aircraft-grade aluminum and will hold up to wear and tear and the abuse of off-roading. One of the biggest perks of the Yitamotor lift kit is that once installed, the handling and steering of the pickup truck are not greatly affected as they can be with other lift kits.
6. Supreme Suspensions
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If you are looking for an extremely durable lift kit product, then Supreme Suspensions manufactures a corrosion resistance kit that can withstand up to 60,000 pounds of force. With that much power, you should have no problem driving your Chevy Silverado on the toughest terrain imaginable.
Installation of the Supreme Suspensions lift kit is a little more time-consuming than other kits, however, the end result is well worth the extra trouble if you are looking for the strongest and most durable kit out there. Installation can take anywhere from two to four hours and it is highly recommended that you take your truck in for a professional alignment once the installation is complete.