Lowering Your Tundra With Drop Spindles

There are few ways to make a more striking style statement than to slam your pickup truck right to the ground. Trucks which have been lowered often have a menacing, predatory look that is at odds with the tall stance of most other pickups on the road. A dropped truck really stands out from the crowd.

Lowering your Tundra is a great way to improve handling and looks.

When looking to lower your Toyota Tundra, you have no doubt run into suspension kits that make use of drop spindles. Drop spindles are one of several different methods that can be used to safely lower the ride height of your vehicle. These components raise the pin on the body of the spindle, which lowers the spindle body and drops the front end of a pickup truck. Since these pieces are completely bolt-in, they are a very simple way to lower a vehicle’s front end, and it can usually be done in a few hours in your own garage.

A dropped front end not only looks cool, but it also helps improve handling by lowering your pickup’s center of gravity. You can also change your suspension geometry to your advantage with drop spindles in order to get a specific ride that you’re looking for.

There are a few drawbacks to using drop spindles. It is important to make sure that whatever wheel and tire combo you currently have on your truck won’t rub any other parts of your truck once the drop spindle has been installed. If you think that this will be a problem, check and see if there are spindles available which offset the wheel. Often, offsetting by as much as an inch will help any clearance issues.

Drop spindles are also not intended for dramatic drops – usually modest height changes of around 2 inches are all that are available without causing parts of your truck’s suspension to come into contact with the wheel itself. Drop spindles can also pose a problem if you decide to install after market brake components later down the road, due to the change in position of the suspension components affected by the spindles.

Drop spindles are an inexpensive and easy lowering solution for your pickup. If you are on a budget, and if you can handle some of the negative aspects associated with using drop spindles, then they are tough to beat. However, in order to get the benefits of full lowering, it’s necessary to take a look at the rear suspension as well. Axle flip kits and frame notching are some ways of dropping the rear end of your Tundra.

Note – We’ve also profiled Tundra Racing’s drop kit – check it out.

Finally, an alternative to drop spindles and a flip kit is to install a full air ride kit all around. While more expensive, air ride springs provide a fully controllable ride height that can be used to either get a dramatic look or improve your pickup’s ability to handle a heavy load. At this point in time, we’re not aware of anyone who makes an air suspension kit for the 2007+ Tundra, so you’ll have to customize. Of course, that also means you’ll be one of the only people to have an air suspension. Cool.