Carnivore Side Steps (Running Boards)

[IamPro2A]

So the 4'13" tall Boss (wife) declared that the new JTR must get some sort of step. I have the Rough Country contoured drop steps on the old Gladiator, and they are functional, affordable, and do a great job hiding the pinch weld and protecting from parking lot door dings. However, the finish sucked and they started rusting pretty quickly. So ruled them out. The options that retained the stock rubi rails either looked like they were just stuck on as an afterthought, super expensive, or did little or nothing to protect the body. Most were at least 2 out of the 3.

The Gladiator is my daily driver, not really an offroad toy. I have another Jeep and a SxS for that. So once I resigned myself to removing the factory rails, I settled on the Carnivore Side Steps. They look like they would do everything I wanted, looked good, and the reviews all seem to rate the quality and fit pretty high. They were also on sale on Amazon with free shipping, AND I had a bunch of points from using the Amazon Prime credit card for the deposit on the new Gladiator. They also universally said the instructions to mount them were horrible (example). OK, I can deal with that.

So, yesterday I installed them.

The good: Yes, they seem solid, look good, and will assist getting in and out without losing much ground clearance while protecting the body.

The bad: The mounting instructions STILL suck. They actually improved the process by stamping the brackets with the location, but there is no mention of that fact in the instructions. Other places are just plain wrong, and reference using the wrong mounting hardware. If you are handy enough to be doing your own mods, you are probably smart enough to figure out what goes were, but don't expect the instructions to tell you that.

Yes, the oem bracket on the right front frame was in the way. Since the consensus seems to be it's just a vestige from manufacturing, I simply notched it with a grinder for clearance instead of cutting it completely off.

The ugly: The design is overly adjustable and makes the install needlessly difficult. After struggling on the first side to get everything assembled and aligned properly and up in place without scratching the hell out of a brand new Jeep, I tossed the instructions in the garbage for the second side. What I did was very loosely install the brackets to the Jeep first with the large main bolts. Threaded the bolts enough to support the weight, but loose enough that the brackets hung down outward and at an angle. This allowed me to set the step in place, and then install the far to adjustable step side brackets in to place one at a time. Then I would just start those nuts/washers so I could lift the step to do the next bracket without the prior one falling out. Then I tightened the main bolts some more, but not all the way. That raised the brackets enough let me loosely install pinch weld bolts without struggling to fit them in behind the step. Then I snugged the main bolts and then snugged the pinch weld bolts. After that I went back again and final tightened the main and then pinch weld bolts. Then adjust the running boards where you want them and tighten those remaining locknuts. I still have to install the front mudflaps, so I made sure to position the steps far enough to the rear those will fit. Centering it under the front and rear flares seemed to work for me.

This seems complicated and slow, but it allows you to work everything into place before tightening, and is WAY faster in the long run. Face it, the main brackets are going to go where they go. There is little to no need for adjustment there. The brackets are fixed to the factory rails, so it isn't a problem with tolerances on Jeep's end. The step side brackets can literally be installed ANYWHERE along the entire length. Well, anywhere except where the cross-braces are, which if you follow the directions and included pics will have all the brackets pre-installed on the wrong side of said cross-braces.

Would I do it again? IF they hold up as well as others have said; yes. My final out of pocket cost was $400. The install is done, and presumably will never have to do again. Prior forum posts made my install a little easier, and hopefully this post will help a little more in the future.

One final hint. It makes things a bit messy, but if you live in snow country like I do, consider spraying all the brackets and undersides of the steps with your favorite corrosion inhibitor like Fluid Film or Wool Wax before you assemble and mount while everything is clean and dry and accessible.

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[Mad Mac]

Great write up.

The author of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" addresses the problem
of instructions written
by non native speakers,
in his case a motorcycle made in Japan.
"To adjust valves, must have peace of mind."

It is a puzzle to me
how China can produce good products,
ship them overseas and then fail to engage
a fluent English speaking technical writer
to prepare the instructions.

My steps from Tyger made in China
had the best instructions I have seen.
The American importer may have penned them.

 

[IamPro2A]

Two month update.
NOT HAPPY.
So we got snow last night (Snow in February, in the White Mountains of NH? Shocking! LOL), and as I was cleaning off the Gladiator, I noticed the passenger side running board was loose. Odd, but probably just need to retighten a few bolts or something. Finished doing the snow, took the wife out on a little ride in the UTV, had lunch and then climbed under to retighten the nuts or bolts. Except there weren't any. The running boards use these special anchor plates to attach the running boards to their mounting brackets. As you see in the initial post, I thought that was a dumb and overly complex step that I guess is to make the running boards way more adjustable than they need to be. They are apparently also the weak point, because of the 8 studs, 2 on each anchor bracket, 7 had apparently snapped off, leaving one little 6mm stud and nut still keeping the running board from falling off and potentially doing a ton of body damage. After removing the board, I checked the driver side. It's not moving, yet. But there are a couple of studs snapped off on that one too. It's not like it's ever even been off-roaded, that sand is just from the roads around here. It's winter in snow country. The roads are covered in sand.

Obviously my first step is to request that they warrantee it, but I don't want to be taking off the running boards and replacing those anchor plates ever month or two.

 

[IamPro2A]

And of course @Quadratec (Carnivore is one of their house brands) shows it out of stock now, so I'm guessing warranty is going to be a hassle.

 

[AmosMoses]

Much cheaper than my rockhard steps I bought in 2020 but I still love mine.

 

[IamPro2A]

This morning I got a response back (I did not really expect a response over the weekend so did not even contact them until yesterday/Sunday). They are supposedly sending out a new hardware pack asap. Still not confident it wont happen again, but maybe it was just a bad batch, since nobody else seems to have had it happen to them.

 

[IamPro2A]

The Saga Continues

So got the hardware pack yesterday. Included all the hardware EXCEPT the hardware that broke.
And that's after I sent them the pics above, including the parts sheet with the part that failed circled.

 

[Master_Cylinder]

The Saga Continues

So got the hardware pack yesterday. Included all the hardware EXCEPT the hardware that broke.
And that's after I sent them the pics above, including the parts sheet with the part that failed circled.

Unbelievable!

 

[IamPro2A]

And after a week and a half, they have finally figured out the part that failed is specially made for the running boards.
In China.
Not sold separately.
The offered to send me entire new running boards... when they come in, because they are currently out of stock.
Or a refund. I took the refund.

I've been playing around with their design, and I think I understand some of the decisions made, and I believe I can improve upon it without being constrained by manufacturing capabilities and costs.

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