Hey all,

I would like to get a good priced/quality leveling kit...which have you had good luck with? Bad luck with? Im just basically looking for it to...well..level my truck...I dont offroad my truck or anything.

Do I have to rent a compressor to my spring off, or are most of them the style that goes between the upper bring bucket and the tower?

Do I need to get an alignment after I do it?

Thanks

 

if i remember correctly u will need an alignment

 

Hell bent steel is the cheapest highest quality leveling kit I've seen. I paid 65 shipped for a 2" level. As far as a spring compressor you don't "need" one but it's probally the safest way. And I would recommend an alignment anytime you mess with the suspension.

 

I came in here to post this too. My buddy has the HBS kit and I plan on getting it too.

http://www.hellbentsteel.com/dodge

 

Yeah they're really nice actually. I think the rubber ones look cheap and that's the cheapest ive seen a steel kit.

 

I've had a 2" Hell Bent Steel leveling kit for over a year now and it has been great. Checkout Hell Bent Steels ebay page, I got mine off there for $60 and free shipping. As far as installation goes it is pretty quick and easy once you figure out how to do it. I did my passenger side in about an hour and a half since I was figuring stuff out then my drivers side I did in half an hour.

I rented spring compressors from Advanced Auto and if you have in impact that will speed up the compressing by a long shot instead of having to crank. Another thing that made it easy was the side i was working on I dropped the sway bar which did help a lot to get the springs back to where they belong with the spacer in.

All and all it was an easy install and I was surprised on how much of a difference it actually made. As for an alignment, I never got one but it sure wouldn't be a bad idea. I'm finally going to take my truck in soon since over the winter I broke a tie rod collar, replaced my track bar and both outer tie rod ends.


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You will need to at least have the alignment checked. You are changing angles when you change ride height. It is possible that you won't need any adjusments, but you will never know unless you have it checked.

 

you dont need a spring compressor. jack the front end up like a foot off the ground. remove the shock, 3 bolts on top and 1 on bottom. use a bottle jack between the frame and axle to push the axle down far enough that you can slide the leveling kit on top of the coil and into the tower. reinstall your shock and move on to the other side. i would have your alignment checked but with only going up so slightly, i doubt you will need to have any changes made unless you have prior issues

 

I was always under the impression that a leveling kit doesn't change the geometry any, thus an alignment is not needed..... wouldn't hurt to have it checked though just to be sure.... I could be wrong here

 

It does change the geometry. And as mentioned above it is not necessary to use a spring compressor. I installed mine in the driveway with basic hand tools a few years ago. Remove the shocks first. Then just make sure you jack the front end up really high, toss the jack stands on the frame behind the wheel. disconnect swaybar, 4x4 CAD electrical connector. Remove the wheels and drop the axle down as low as she will go. Your coils practically fall out.

Edit, I also was still running stock shocks back then, so I opted to replace all of them and put 2" lift shocks in the front.