Advantages to lowering?

So, new to full- size trucks, and coming from having mainly been into keeping my vehicles as close to stock as possible. Still asking the stupid questions and all.

Are there any advantages to lowering a truck? I know it's going to change ground clearance and ride height, but are there any real positives? Fuel economy or anything?

I kind of like being able to see over the roof of the vehicle I'm driving, but that's not enough of a reason for me to consider getting a drop kit.

Personal Choice.
Never saw the sense in it, Myself. Want a Low rider, get a Corvette.
Trucks are designed to go places & carry cargo that other vehicles cannot.

It is your truck though so do as you see fit.

teh603 said:

So, new to full- size trucks, and coming from having mainly been into keeping my vehicles as close to stock as possible. Still asking the stupid questions and all.

Are there any advantages to lowering a truck? I know it's going to change ground clearance and ride height, but are there any real positives? Fuel economy or anything?

I kind of like being able to see over the roof of the vehicle I'm driving, but that's not enough of a reason for me to consider getting a drop kit.

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I guess this could primarily be due to the fact that I’m not real big on lowered trucks but about the only advantages I would see from lowering a truck is maybe better fuel economy due to being closer to the ground to make the air go over and around your truck as opposed to underneath it and probably the other two would be easier getting in and out of the truck and possibly a lot more stable driving because your center of gravity is lower.

But if I had to guess, I don’t think the people who lower their trucks do it for anything considered functionality, they do it for the looks. Just like these guys that lift their trucks insanely high, put on those really wide crazy offset wheels and that lowered back end Carolina squat; it’s primarily just for looks and they think it looks cool.

Easier to load cargo
Easier to jump in/out of bed if needed
Easier to reach stuff in bed
Better for dog’s hips jumping in n out
Better handling
Better fuel economy perhaps

My high-mile ‘08 qc 6spd 4x4 is at stock front height with rear 1.5-2” shackle drop. As a farm truck, it’s still able to go wherever I need it to but even the slight rear drop makes using it as a truck “easier”. Have considered dropping it a bit more (2” front and back), but at that point may affect ability to get around the ranch from time to time.

My ‘16 2500 ctd 6spd with rear air suspension makes life real easy…just drop rear suspension into “transport mode” when loading/unloading stuff

I did a test on my sport with air suspension and the Areo mode that lowers the truck at hwy speeds. Same stretch of road several different occasions i actually had better econ leaving it out of the lowering mode by about 2lt per 100. Now that could have just been the air suspension as i still say their is no way to raise or lower your truck and still keep the alignment in spec, so personally i think the better econ was because the tires were scrubbing when lowered causing drag.

zrock said:

I did a test on my sport with air suspension and the Areo mode that lowers the truck at hwy speeds. Same stretch of road several different occasions i actually had better econ leaving it out of the lowering mode by about 2lt per 100. Now that could have just been the air suspension as i still say their is no way to raise or lower your truck and still keep the alignment in spec, so personally i think the better econ was because the tires were scrubbing when lowered causing drag.

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That is interesting that you say you got better mileage while not using aero-mode as opposed to using it but I think I’d still rather see a more thorough analysis of it to see if it actually helps or hinders mileage. I have the air suspension as well and before I did my front level, I don’t think aero mode did anything as far as economy except make the front end feel like it was slightly bottoming out on some of these rough and wavy roads we have around here so there for a while, I kept it turned off.

Now that I have my front end leveled, I use aero mode but still, I don’t think it helps but being that aero mode only drops the truck by a half inch, I highly doubt your front tires were “scrubbing” from increased toe.

But you are right, that’s why we can’t drive these trucks any faster than 25 miles an hour in off-road one or off-road two mode because of the alignment being set at normal ride height.

On my 02 quad cab 2 wheel Dr 5.9 I gained 1-2 mpg on the freeway when I lowered the back 2 inches.

Mine is lowered slightly. Seems to handle a little better.

CorDog009 said:

Mine is lowered slightly. Seems to handle a little better.

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Well yeah, lowering that center of gravity a little bit would do that.

It's a brick. Shaped like a brick, weight like a brick. Lowering it might change the MPG a few tenths, but not enough to matter unless you spend most of your time at 60mph +. For mpg speed is a bigger factor. I can get my best mpg at 55 and normal ride height. Lowering will most likely give a stiffer ride and require money for parts and a realignment, but hey although I wouldn't do it to my ride, whatever you like. Your money.

Lowering can be done with spindles/knuckles up front and shackles on the back and keep the stock springs and shocks, so the ride isn’t affected.

teh603 said:

So, new to full- size trucks, and coming from having mainly been into keeping my vehicles as close to stock as possible. Still asking the stupid questions and all.

Are there any advantages to lowering a truck? I know it's going to change ground clearance and ride height, but are there any real positives? Fuel economy or anything?

I kind of like being able to see over the roof of the vehicle I'm driving, but that's not enough of a reason for me to consider getting a drop kit.

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It looks ****** bad-ass, that's it. It still doesn't turn great, but body roll is almost completely eliminated

I pulled around 20~ish miles to the gallon in my 03 that is lowered. I have a 2003 2WD 5.7 that in the neighborhood of 300k. Stock engine, and tranny, rebuilt rear put 4.10's, and drove around 300 miles round trip on a half a tank of gas.

It has a 2 inch drop coils in front 3 inch leafs in the back. Gator tonneau soft cover on the bed.

aRBee4863 said:

It looks ****** bad-ass, that's it. It still doesn't turn great, but body roll is almost completely eliminated

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So, thinks every 12 year old & those who Think/Act, like it.

"Lower that Truck, like ya do your Belt.
Put it on the ground, man, on the ground."

I prefer mine, where it's supposed to be.
Now, if only my stomache would listen to me and stop pushing it down.

Personally I’ve had two lowered trucks (not the ram) and aside from the looks/performance improvement I always found it amusing how absolutely triggered people got over the idea of a lowered truck.

Better handling, trigger the normies, if you’re short no more jumping to get in your truck or bed. Depending on bags or springs, it will ride worse or better than stock. Depends on what you consider advantages and what goals you’d like met. I leave the MPG worries to the Prius crowds. The skinny pedal is far too fun.

justin13703 said:

Personally I’ve had two lowered trucks (not the ram) and aside from the looks/performance improvement I always found it amusing how absolutely triggered people got over the idea of a lowered truck.

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This, in terms of pure personal enjoyment, has paid for the price of the lowering kit many times over

1SloRam said:

Better handling, trigger the normies, if you’re short no more jumping to get in your truck or bed. Depending on bags or springs, it will ride worse or better than stock. Depends on what you consider advantages and what goals you’d like met. I leave the MPG worries to the Prius crowds. The skinny pedal is far too fun.

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+1, Can also second the "loading ease", ramping the DRZ/30 gal air compressor/groceries into the truck bed is much easier. Considering the angle, a 4-5inch drop is closer to 6" lower by the time you reach the end of the tailgate, compared to stock (at least it feels that way, I haven't done the trigonometry)

You can make the cholos yell orale as you drive past.
You can pile all your cousins in the back to keep your rear bumper dragging down Olvera St.

At least according to the Saddle Tramps.

I've got a lowered sports car. It limits my ability to use it due to pothole season and my desire to not rip the guts out of the car during said season. Obviously there are various levels of lowering, but in general you are trading ride comfort for less body roll, gaining a slight advantage in aerodynamics, and changing the entry height. I am gravity fed when I get out of my Power Wagon, I'm climbing when I get out of my Camaro. And, of course, the inverse for entry.

I *personally* would only lower a truck that was a dedicated tow rig and where I really cared about it being a highway star or if I was doing some sort of track events with it for some reason. I like to look at them, I don't care to drive them. I prefer to be King of the Rednecks vs Emperor of the Cholos, so I'm all in on Bro dozers. (for the inevitable person offended by any of this, don't take me too seriously. I don't.)

My experience is lowered trucks ride much stiffer. Look cool but not much use as a truck sometimes depending on setup.

tron67j said:

My experience is lowered trucks ride much stiffer. Look cool but not much use as a truck sometimes depending on setup.

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Depends on how you do it. You can lower a vehicle and have it ride exactly like stock, but then you don’t really gain any handling improvement and you run the risk of bottoming out (depending on the truck and how low you went). Generally, the closer you get to the ground, the stiffer you want it to be.

Docwagon1776 said:

You can make the cholos yell orale as you drive past.
You can pile all your cousins in the back to keep your rear bumper dragging down Olvera St.

At least according to the Saddle Tramps.

I've got a lowered sports car. It limits my ability to use it due to pothole season and my desire to not rip the guts out of the car during said season. Obviously there are various levels of lowering, but in general you are trading ride comfort for less body roll, gaining a slight advantage in aerodynamics, and changing the entry height. I am gravity fed when I get out of my Power Wagon, I'm climbing when I get out of my Camaro. And, of course, the inverse for entry.

I *personally* would only lower a truck that was a dedicated tow rig and where I really cared about it being a highway star or if I was doing some sort of track events with it for some reason. I like to look at them, I don't care to drive them. I prefer to be King of the Rednecks vs Emperor of the Cholos, so I'm all in on Bro dozers. (for the inevitable person offended by any of this, don't take me too seriously. I don't.)

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I’ve had both, lifted and lowered stuff. They both serve a different purpose. My lowered trucks were an 03 s10 zq8 (the zq8 was a sport package) and an 07 Tacoma xrunner, supercharged, about 450hp. They were both considered “sport” trucks so getting rid of wheel gap and improving handling just made sense. I also have a lowered 2014 Passat diesel. And when I talk about lowered I don’t mean slammed. All 3 of mine were dropped 2 inches. Slammed vehicles are kind of in their own category with a very different usage case and very different positives/negatives.

I also had my ram, leveled on 35s, and still have a lifted cherokee. Those were much more suited to going up in height vs down. They do different things than the s10 and Tacoma did, and served a different purpose. Everyone’s opinion is different as far as how they like vehicles to ride, but I like a little bit stiffer, more responsive, “sports car-ish” type feel. Having had a few in both fields, I can say the lowered stuff rode and drove magnitudes better than the lifted stuff. Lifted came with a kind of bouncy, floaty type ride vs slightly stiffer, more responsive feel with lowered. But the direction I went depended on my intended use for that specific vehicle.