Two of the best improvements for 4 wheel drive (4WD) vehicles are body lift kits and hitches. These can be vast improvements to vehicles and are usually quite affordable truck accessories. Depending on your type of 4WD vehicle, you will be best off with different body lift kits and hitches.

Just what is a body lift kit? It’s an affordable method to run larger tires on a vehicle. And a hitch, or tow hitch, is a metal piece attached to the body of a vehicle for towing things like boats, cars, or trailers.

So how do you choose the right 4WD vehicle parts for you? The good news is hitches and body lift kits are not only quite popular but also stocked well in both online and brick-and-mortar venues. This article helps you choose the right body lift kits and hitches.

Let’s start with the body lift kit. The most common reason for using a body lift kit is for handling rough terrain with better wheels. With this 4WD part, you can safely upgrade to improve road clearance over time. Oddly, the body lift kit itself doesn’t raise your vehicle (the term might fool you); instead, the actual tires improve road clearance after you install the body lift kit.

For a smoother ride on larger tires, a body lift kit is a must. Without the kit, your tires risk damaging not only themselves but also your vehicle as they wear against the arches.

Should you install the body lift kit yourself, or hire a mechanic? This depends on many things.
- How much you are willing to spend
- Your knowledge in doing it yourself
- How good your mechanic is
- And how well you follow instruction

These may all seem obvious, but a body lift kit can take some time to install and doing it yourself, even if you know how, could take you days. You could wind up doing it over and over again as you tweak it. On the other hand, not every mechanic has the right price and the right skills for the job. So, in choosing do it yourself, make sure you’re confident and have experience in the field.

Now let’s go over hitches. Typically, hitches come in 4 classes. These can be broken down to basically #1 have the least gross trailer weight and tongue wait, and #4 have the most gross trailer weight and tongue weight.

There are two types of hitches as well: weight carrying hitches and weight distributing hitches. Weight carrying hitches attach to the frame of the 4WD vehicle and have a connection point between the towing vehicle and whatever is being towed. For heavier trailers,you might want to go with weight distributing hitches for safety in your 4WD vehicle. You can expect better steering and control with weight distributing hitches, but weight carrying hitches work well for lighter tows.

As you can see, choosing body lift kits and hitches for 4WD vehicles isn’t easy, but once you know what you want you can save time and money. You now know whether or not to hire professionals to help you choose one too.