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Installing a Leveling Kit and Wheels on a Ford F150

Chris Hamilton . February 04, 2021 . COOL GEAR
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A Simple Weekend Project for Every Skill Level

Most truck enthusiasts daydream about metal grinding and TIG welding on custom hotrods. The reality TV shows tease a fantasy life of doing what you love on some of the sweetest trucks on the planet, but we all know that most of us will never reach the level of craftsmanship that is exhibited on these shows. 

But that doesn’t mean you can’t spend a weekend working on your own truck in your driveway with some basic tools and a few cold drinks, right? Attention to detail and clean, satisfying work can be achieved with simple tasks if you take your time and follow the instructions. And thanks to the engineers at MaxTrac suspension, all the parts are ready with no custom fabricating necessary!

The 2-inch leveling kit we are installing was ordered from MaxTrac Suspension. This particular kit is made for an ’04-’16 Ford F-150 2WD or 4WD. MaxTrac has one for your truck, too!

Sure, we could throw a 6- or 8-inch suspension system on this ’16 Ford F-150, but this is a dad truck that is being used every day by a family man and blue-collar worker. To avoid bigger step bars or jumping into the truck, the owner decided on a simple leveling kit for the front of the truck only. MaxTrac Suspension provides extremely high-quality fabricated strut spacers made from quarter-inch steel, stamped top plates and standardized hardware across all applications. MaxTrac knows that the leveling market is highly competitive, and the company’s parts are some of the best in the industry in quality and pricing. To fill the new additional wheelwell gap, we will bolt up a set of 20×12 Pure Grit PG101 wheels wrapped in 305-50-20 Nitto Ridge Grappler tires. A simple project for a simple purpose, looks and a little lift!

These Pure Grit Grit wheels feature a black milled finish and are sure to make your ride stand out! This particular wheel setup is in 20×12 with a -44 off set. The Pure Grit Grit is a one-piece alloy wheel. These beautiful eightspoke wheels are available in a 6×135 confi guration and will be sure to elevate the look of your vehicle build!
The Ridge Grappler features a revolutionary dynamic hybrid tread pattern that provides a quiet and comfortable ride, while deep aggressive sidewall lugs and tread pattern provide capable off-road performance
Before we start, we want to measure the current stock height, which is 5 ¼ inches. Generally, you should measure from the center of the hub, but this will get us close enough.

The MaxTrac 2-inch leveling kit comes in a small package and looks basic and easy to install. There are lots of steps to put this spacer in though, so follow along.

First, we remove the steering link from the spindle. A light tap with a hammer will knock it loose if needed.
Next up is to unbolt the factory sway bar. With plans to upgrade this later, it can stay in place for now on this project.

Next is the upper control arm to spindle ball joint. Again, a few taps with the hammer will get this loose and free.
Now the three upper strut mount bolts can be removed with an open-end wrench through the fender well. The strut will drop down with all three bolts removed.
Now we have access to the top of the strut to add the spacer. Adding the spacer here will lift the body up from the current height by 2 inches.
Simply use the provided hardware to bolt the spacer to the top of the strut and reinstall the strut into the factory location.
With more wheel well space available, more tire can be stuffed in there, so the owner ordered these 20×12 Pure Grit Off-Road wheels. They have a super clean design and a big lip which we love!
With a 305-40-20 Nitto Ridge Grappler mounted up, this wheel and tire combo looks perfect and proportional in our humble opinion.
This wheel comes in a dual drilled 6-lug to fit both Ford and Chevy 6-lug trucks. That’s a great feature when you want to sell them later on in life.
With the leveling kit installed and the factory original bolted back up, it was time to take another measurement to see how much height we gained. This time we have a 7-inch gap, the perfect amount for our new 305-40-20 Nitto Ridge Grappler tires.
The final result looks great and the extra height will help if the truck ever has to go off road. Those 20-inch wheels look great, too. What a fun weekend project!
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