Lifted My Factory Steps

[onewhippedpuppy]

Like many of us my JT is a daily driver, and needs to accommodate my wife, daughter, and 11 year old, so as much as I'd love to throw my steps in the garbage, it's not an option for me. With more pressing items on my mod budget I decided to at least make them look less stupid. I saw a similar post in another thread but haven't seen a write up with pics, so here we go. The goal was to eliminate the gap between the body and OEM steps, and add a little additional ground clearance on each side. This is about as easy as modifications go, if you can spin a ratchet you can knock this out in well under an hour. I would strongly recommend ordering the hardware somewhere like Grainger because it's metric and you need 32 sets, I wasted entirely too much time driving from store to store before I gave up and just ordered it.

Hardware List:
Nylon spacer, 30 mm long, M6 hole side, 15 mm OD (Grainger PN 3ZMT9) - minimum 32
M6-1.00 x55 mm bolt, stainless steel (Grainger PN 22TN65) - minimum 32
M6 washer, stainless steel (Grainger PN 6EU88) - minimum 32

Steps:
Unbolt steps from underside using 10 mm socket
Lift up step, insert bolt and washer from below, drop on the spacer, finger tight to step, repeat 32 times (a second set of hands helps)
Tighten everything down and you are done!

Is it a massive difference, absolutely not! The steps are raised 30 mm, so just over one inch, and are now nearly tight to the body so I don't think much more is possible. The brackets do not move, so in terms of offroad obstacle clearance you really aren't gaining much. It is noticeable, it definitely looks better, the steps still feel just as solid to my 200 lb fat ass, and they are still functional. Was it worth $70 in hardware and 30 minutes of time, absolutely!

Pictures coming in post #2 from my phone......

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[onewhippedpuppy]

Before:

 

[onewhippedpuppy]

After:

 

[Longleaf]

Excellent! Really like this mod. Might have to try it on my wife's JLU.
Nice work. ?

 

[onewhippedpuppy]

Thanks, I'm happy with the end result for my level of investment! Long term I'd like a more step/slider combo design, but that's after a topper, 35s, AEV spacer lift, JL Tazer, etc etc etc. Which translates to, it's going to be a while.

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