Silverado 1500 Suspension Guide: Leveling Kits, Lift Kits, and Shocks by Height

If your Silverado 1500 came from the factory sitting a little nose-low, or you're planning bigger tires, suspension is usually the first mod that actually changes how the truck looks and drives. This covers what's actually in stock for the current Gen 4 Silverado 1500 (2019 and newer body style), from cheap leveling spacers up to full lift kits and adjustable coilovers.

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Leveling: the cheapest way to square up the stance

Most 1500s sit lower in front than the rear from the factory. A leveling kit fixes that without touching your factory struts. The {{part:SUS-READYLIFT-66-39150-2019-2024}} is a strut spacer that adds 1.5 inches up front, fits the 5.3L, 6.2L and 2.7L Turbo, and installs in 2 to 3 hours. It's the least expensive option in this lineup by a wide margin. The catch: you keep your worn factory struts, so it won't help ride quality, and it's not enough lift for a much larger tire. It also doesn't fit Adaptive Ride Control, Trail Boss, AT4 or ZR2 trucks, or the 2019 old-body 1500 LD carryover.

New shocks and struts, with a little lift built in

If your dampers are worn or you want a bit more than a spacer gives you, a matched strut and shock set replaces all four corners. The {{part:SUS-BILSTEIN-24-337052-24-293471-2019-2026}} gives up to 2.5 inches of front lift and up to 1 inch in the rear, all four corners for one price, in a 3 to 4 hour install. Go past 2.5 inches and you need a bracket lift instead. These part numbers are for the current body style only, not the 2019 1500 LD carryover.

For adjustable damping, the {{part:SUS-EIBACH-E86-23-032-04-22-2019-2026}} pairs front coilovers you can set the height on yourself with matched rear shocks, and it's one of the few kits here that covers the 2.7L Turbo. It doesn't fit trucks with Adaptive Ride Control, and Eibach recommends upgrading your control arms too if yours are stamped steel, which adds cost on top of the kit itself.

At the higher end, the {{part:SUS-FOX-883-06-157-2019-2026}} is front shocks only, with a remote reservoir and an external adjuster you can turn by hand to change ride firmness. It gives up to 2 inches of lift but leaves your rear shocks stock, and Fox excludes Trail Boss and ZR2 trims. Buy it for the adjustable damping, not just for the height.

Full lift kits: 4 to 6 inches

For real clearance and bigger tires, a bracket lift kit relocates the suspension mounting points instead of just spacing up the factory parts. The four kits below split by height and by drivetrain, so match one to your actual configuration before comparing anything else.

| Kit | Lift | Notes | |---|---|---| | {{part:SUS-READYLIFT-69-39400-2019-2024}} | 4 in | 4WD only, roughly 4.5 hr install per ReadyLift, excludes Trail Boss, ZR2, AT4 and AT4X | | {{part:SUS-ZONEOFFROAD-ZONC67F-2019-2024}} | 4 in | 4WD, 8 to 10 hr install, excludes Adaptive Ride Control, Trail Boss, AT4, ZR2, AT4X and the older Classic body | | {{part:SUS-ROUGHCOUNTRY-23830-2019-2024}} | 6 in | 2WD only, 10+ hr install, shop recommended, excludes Adaptive Ride Control, two-piece rear driveshafts and mono-leaf rear springs | | {{part:SUS-FABTECH-K1132-2019-2024}} | 6 in | 4WD, Crew Cab short box only, no Trail Boss, 10+ hr install, shop recommended |

The two 4 inch kits aren't close on price or labor time even though the height matches, and the two 6 inch kits are split by drivetrain rather than being direct alternatives to each other.

Going bigger: adjustable front systems

The {{part:SUS-ICON-K73061-2019-2026}} gives 1.5 to 3.5 inches of lift as a matched ICON system, but ICON states it does not fit 4-cylinder trucks, so 2.7L Turbo owners need the {{part:SUS-ICON-K73072T-2019-2026}} instead, which covers a 2.375 to 3.75 inch range and doesn't carry that exclusion. Both exclude Trail Boss, AT4, AT4X and ZR2, and ICON systems require your driver-assist cameras and sensors to be recalibrated after install, which is a shop or dealer step on top of the usual alignment.

Going the other direction: lowering

Not everyone wants height. The {{part:SUS-BELLTECH-1040SP-2019-2026}} drops the truck 2 to 4 inches up front and 6 inches in the rear with matched Belltech shocks, aimed at a street-truck look instead of clearance. It's the most involved install in this whole lineup, 8-plus hours with a shop recommended, it doesn't fit Trail Boss, AT4 or Adaptive Ride Control trucks, and single-cab trucks need bed-seam trimming.

The part that isn't a lift by itself

Once you level or lift the front end, your suspension geometry and ball-joint angles move out of factory range. The {{part:SUS-COGNITO-110-90784-2019-2026}} is a boxed upper control arm kit built to correct that. It's not something to buy instead of a lift kit, it's something to buy alongside one. It's also one of the few parts in this lineup that Cognito lists as fitting AT4, AT4X, Trail Boss and ZR2, trims most of the lift kits above exclude outright. Budget for an alignment either way.

What to check before you buy

Trim exclusions show up over and over in this lineup. Adaptive Ride Control, Trail Boss, AT4, AT4X and ZR2 get left out of a lot of these kits, likely because those trims run different factory suspension hardware. Confirm your exact trim and whether you have Adaptive Ride Control before ordering anything. Several kits are also drivetrain-specific (2WD vs 4WD) or limited to the current Gen 4 body, not the 2019 old-body 1500 LD carryover, so check your build sheet against the fitment notes above rather than assuming your truck qualifies.

None of this is legal advice. Whether a given lift height, tire size or fender modification is street legal depends on your state and local rules, and any compliance claim a manufacturer or retailer makes about a specific kit is theirs, not something confirmed here. Check your state's requirements before you buy if ride height or tire size is a concern.