Before you Buy: How to Make your F150 Sit Perfectly Level!

Posted by Jason Locke on 11/5/2021 to Before you Buy

There are more than a few leveling kits for 2004-2021 F150s out there, and they come in a wide variety of different ride heights, despite them all being labeled as "leveling kits." So what ride height actually gets your 2004-2021 F150 to a perfectly leveled, "dead-level" stance with no rake? The answer is fairly simple, but it gets extremely complicated once you get into the minutiae of different leveling kit types, condition of the rest of the truck's suspension, truck submodel, and other factors. In general, an increase of 2.5" of front ride height will get your F150 to a "dead-level" stance. BUT, there's also a few good reasons why you may not want to be dead-level in the first place, and with some of the issues we've already discussed, you may not even be at a perfect 2.5" of front ride height in a lot of cases.

F150 2.5" Spacer Leveling Kits

The quickest, easiest, and most cost-effective way to add 2.5" of front leveling to your F150 is with a spacer leveling kit, and there's more than a few 2.5" spacer leveling kits that can get the job done. The good news is that 2.5" leveling spacers will absolutely get you an actual 2.5" of ride height in most cases. That being said, spacers don't exactly do much in the way of performance, so if you're looking for a handling or off-road performance upgrade, leveling spacers may not be the upgrade for you. As far as getting their advertised ride height, spacers are a solid way to go, but there is a chance that if your F150 has a lot of suspension wear and tear (especially on its leaf packs, which we'll get to), the ride height provided may actually push you a bit nose high. So if your F150 has a decent amount of miles on it, you may want to measure before you take the plunge. Still, 2.5" spacer leveling kits will get you consistently closer to the mark than most other options. Our personal favorite 2.5" leveling kits are the 2021 F150 Auto Spring 2.5" Kit, 2014-2020 F150 Auto Spring 2.5" Kit, and 2009-2013 F150 Auto Spring 2.5" Kit.

F150 2.5" Coilover Leveling Kits

While a lot of coilover leveling kits meet the 2.5" of ride height needed to get your truck leveled, there's a slight issue with getting "consistent" ride height between trucks. Unlike spacer leveling kits that essentially add a set length to your stock assembly, coilovers rely on their springs (and the preload on those springs) to generate extra ride height. This generally wouldn't be a problem, but since F150s come with different engine options, cab sizes, packages, and factory options, they have a huge spread of curb weights which can get you different ride heights. Now, in general, you'll still get fairly close to that 2.5" ride height figure on most F150s, but don't be entirely surprised if you're not at a perfect level with a set of coilovers. The good news is that most coilover systems are adjustable (though some are easier to adjust than others), so you'll be able to fine-tune your ride height to get a "dead-level" stance. Now, we did say "most" F150s, and the 2.7L F150s are an exception. Due to their much lighter curb weight, the 2.7L F150s tend to get a good amount more ride height than what most coilovers are rated for, so keep that mind. Still, since most coilovers are adjustable, you can crank them down back to a more "reasonable" and leveled look. Our favorite 2.5" capable coilovers are the 2021 F150 ICON 2.5 Coilovers, 2015-2020 F150 ICON 2.5 Coilovers, 2009-2014 F150 ICON 2.5 Coilovers, 2014-2020 F150 Elka 2.0 Coilovers, and 2009-2013 F150 Elka 2.0 Coilovers.

Problems with "Dead-Level" F150s

Despite the fact that having an F150 at a perfect, dead-level stance looks pretty good, there are some practical problems with both adding 2.5" of front lift and being dead-level in general. The biggest problem with being leveled in general is that you'll be nose-high if you load up your truck's bed or do any towing. Your F150 comes with factory rake for a reason, and that reason has everything to do with towing and hauling. As you add weight to your bed or hitch, your F150 settles back on its leaf springs. If your F150 is leveled, you'll end up nose-high with all that added weight. This is generally a bad thing, especially when towing and hauling where stability can be an issue. If you are going to be towing or hauling on the regular with a leveling truck, you'll probably want to invest in some sort of load support upgrade like the Timbren SES, SuperSpring SumoSprings, or even some sort of Air Spring Kit.

Another potential issue with being at 2.5" of front leveling is your F150's suspension geometry. At 2.5" of leveling, your F150's front suspension geometry starts to get thrown off to the point where you can see some upper control arm contact with your F150's factory coil spring at full articulation. Now, this generally isn't a huge problem on F150s that are only going to see street and towing use, but it can be a major issue if you're heading off road or doing some pretty aggressive trail riding. The only real solution to avoid spring contact is with a set of aftermarket UCAs. Aftermarket F150 upper control arms feature larger clearances for the stock spring and usually use joints that allow for slightly more articulation than stock, which can help you off-road. We're pretty big fans of the 2021 F150 ICON Delta Joint UCAS or 2004-2020 F150 Grimm Uniball UCAs, though most UCAs offer more or less the same functionality.

Your F150's Suspension Condition Decides Ride Height and Leveling

In the end, the condition of your F150's stock suspension is going to decide how much ride height your actually get out of a particular leveling kit and whether that ride height gets your F150 level. Newer F150s or trucks with fairly low mileage tend to get slightly more ride height out leveling spacers due to the front springs not being broken in, and the stock leaf springs may likewise not be be fully broken in, your actual ride height results may vary somewhat. On older F150s or F150s with a lot of miles on their stock suspension, the factory leaf springs may have started to sag over time, and 2.5" of front leveling may put your truck nose-high. Likewise, if your factory coilovers and front springs have seen better days, replacing them with a coilover may get you more ride height, but adding a spacer may get you less.

To sum up, you generally need 2.5" of front leveling to get your F150 "dead-level", but there's a lot of reasons why you may not want to be at a perfectly leveled stance, and it's hard to guarantee that specific leveling kits will get you "perfectly" level. Still, 2.5" of front leveling is still a good be. Do you care if your truck is "dead-level" or is overhyped? What leveling kit would you use on your truck? Let us know below!

F150 Leveling Kits & Supporting Parts:

Before you Buy: How to Make your F150 Sit Perfectly Level!

F150 2.5" Spacer Leveling Kits

F150 2.5" Coilover Leveling Kits

Problems with "Dead-Level" F150s

Your F150's Suspension Condition Decides Ride Height and Leveling

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