If you’ve ever been to a off-road park, you’ve seen lifted side-by-sides and ATVs. They’re big, they’re cool, and they’re practical for off-road vehicles too.
But can you get one too?
We’re looking at all kinds of lift kits today to see how big of a lift kit you can put on your ATV or UTV and what you need to consider before you commit to a big upgrade.
Lift kits are dead simple: they lift your machine. That means they raise the skid plate on your ATV or UTV farther from the ground. They do this primarily by pushing your wheels and suspension down, but there are other ways to get a lift too. Here are a few different types of lifts to keep in mind:
So why do you want a lift kit?
They give you more ground clearance and room for bigger tires. Ground clearance makes every ride smoother because you’ll spend less time running into obstacles. It also makes it possible to tackle more brutal terrain that could high-center your ATV or UTV. Bigger tires make rocks, logs, and other obstacles feel smaller because bigger tires have to fight gravity less to roll over them.
The biggest factor that affects how big of a lift kit you can use is the actual make and model of ATV or UTV you have. They’re all a little different, and their varied suspension directly affects lift kit compatibility.
One of the biggest differentiators is your UTV or ATV’s stock axles. If they don’t have enough articulation, you can’t lift the machine without damaging them.
Otherwise, you’re limited by the rest of the suspension components. If they can’t be pushed down without interfering with other components, you won’t be able to lift it as much.
Lift kits are measured by how much lift they give your machine (obviously). They come in just about every size.
It’s important to remember that different ride styles benefit from different lift heights too.
If you spend all your time cruising down trails, you want to stick to a smaller lift—typically between 2” and 4”. That gives you enough clearance to get over obstacles without getting so big that you lose the nimbleness you need on tight sections.
This also lets you upgrade your tire size by one or two inches. Even this modest tire size upgrade will give you a big leg up on rocks, logs, and washouts you might encounter on the trail.
On the other end of the spectrum, mud bogging benefits hugely from bigger lift kits. Anything from 5” to 10” will give you the clearance to stay above the mud and room for massive tires that churn through mud holes. 8” GDP Portals are perfect for this. Even better, get a 10” suspension lift and 8” GDP Portals, so you can use them in tandem for a mega-sized machine.
The goal is to go as big as possible in mud. Depending on your machine and the lift (or lift and portals) you go with, you could fit tires from 35 inches all the way up to 50 inches. Trust us—we’ve done it, and it’s awesome.
You don’t need to go huge to have an awesome rock-crawling machine. We highly recommend 4” or 6” GDP Portals for the task. They give you extra clearance to get over rocks, extra width for more stability, and tons of torque to make climbing easy.
With 4” or 6” GDP Portals, you can expect to run 30- to 35-inch tires, which is right in the ideal range for rock crawling.
When your stock suspension doesn’t have the articulation it needs for the big lift you want, you’re gonna need some extra mods.
Obviously, you’re gonna need new suspension parts. That means new A-arms, trailing arms, radius rods, and axles for sport models. Utility-focused UTVs and ATVs only have A-arms in the front and rear.
But that’s just the start. If you have longer A-arms, you’re gonna need longer brake lines and tie rods too.
Luckily, SuperATV’s big lift kits come with everything you need. When the kit shows up at your door, all you have to do is install it—no trips to the hardware store needed.
If you’re going this big with your lift kit, you’re definitely going to get bigger tires too.
Bigger tires directly affect the torque your machine can get to the ground. Simply put, bigger tires reduce your torque.
There are two ways to get that torque back:
If you want big tires, a GDP Portal Gear Lift is a no-brainer. It gives you the lift you want and the torque-boosting gear reduction you need to use bigger tires. You get your choice of gear reduction too, so you can actually get bigger tires and get more torque than stock. Trust us, you won’t be ready for the power you get the first time you put the pedal to the floor, and you’ll never go back.
You should be pretty well equipped to figure out which lift kit is right for your ride style, but you still want to make sure you get the most bang for your buck.
That means not spending money on more or less than you need.
Here’s what you need to think about:
Obviously, there are a ton of different ways to go, and you know what you need better than anybody.
Take a look at all the SuperATV lift kits and see which one fits your needs the best.
