mx5red
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Here is my install write up.
TL;DR there were no instructions, they don’t completely cover the pinch seam or tightly curve to the body, you have to cut off brackets on the rear frame, and drill 13 holes in the frame... but the craftsmanship seems top notch and sturdy.
I was shopping for a long time, wanted LOD destroyers but they’re not coming. Don’t like the look of the Armor Lite. Not waiting for Roam’s rusty product.
Schrockworks and Rusty’s were in the running as well.
Almost ordered Rock Hard angled down steps 100 times but just wasn’t sold on the look; if I had to do it over I’d get those instead for more straight forward install and likely sturdier mounting, as well as covering seam.
Then, I saw somebody mention TNT steps and liked that they were a little different from what’s been out, and that their stuff is sturdy.
Well, I still like the look but the install was a real B*#@. There were zero instructions, really? They have instructions for other products online so I think these are just too new.
They come bare metal, NBD I planned on priming/painting. I was gonna have them powder coated but read so many opinions on painting them so they’re easier to touch up when they get scraped... time will tell if I regret this.
Shot them with several coats of primer, followed by several coats of flat black and waited couple days to let paint harden.
Then, I tried lining them up to drill the frame.
There is a vertical bracket at the rear of the frame that you need to cut to clear room for the rear mount. Not super happy about having to do that extra work
I should’ve taken a before shot, but you can see where I had to cut/grind the bracket just above that rearmost hole, it was sticking down about to the hole. Used a cutoff wheel to remove it about even with the tab welded flush with the frame; ideally prob remove just a bit higher than that line actually.
I used the middle mount to help line everything up, which is convenient since it’s where you can center the Jack.
there are three mounts, and all three have bolts to drill/mount to the side of the frame.
The front mount also has a lip that goes underneath the frame, and a flag nut/bolt that attaches. Driver side does not have a hole for the bottom bolt and needs to be drilled. The passenger side has a hole and also uses the transmission bolts, so no holes drilled for passenger front mount - yay!
The middle mount goes under the body bolt, so you have to take off the middle body bolt as well as the two smaller nuts next to it. The body bolt doesn’t actually attach or tighten to the slider mount, but I had to remove it to get the slider mount into position. People worry about the body bolts but I went slow and kept backing it out, and it was the easiest part of the whole freaking install..
The rear mount only attaches to the side of the frame so has less of a reference point.
I used a Jack to try to position it as best I could, tightened the nuts beside the body bolt and the flag nut on bottom of the front mount. Then, I marked my holes, dropped the slider and went to drillin’.
I guess you could drill the holes and screw it in without removing the slider, but there’s no real way to drill the top hole on the rear mount without removing the slider. Lining it back up after wasn’t really that hard too be honest.
But, it was a real pain in the ass drilling all those holes in the frame without a lift! You have to push hard and it’s awkward positioning.
I bought some cobalt bits which helped, and pilot holes are an absolute MUST. Then buzzed through with a step bit.
I do like how they look, but I didn’t realize how much extra work went into mounting these compared to a straight bolt on affair.
13mm x4 and 10mm x8 Rubicon sliders
18mm x2 bolts passenger side tranny mount
18mm body bolt and 16mmx2 bolts beside body bolt
I think I drilled like 9/16 or something for the bottom bolts with the flag nuts.
I went to 5/16 with the step bit for the screws; I also used 3/8-16 tap for passenger side after struggling with driver side self-tapping screws, they had a hard time biting. I think that caused me to drill a little too much with the step bit and I stripped two of the frame holes with the screws on the driver side
To be honest the frame isn’t that thick and after stripping a couple holes I’m not as confident how sturdy these mount.. maybe I’ll spend some more time on them and weld them on
since these are relatively new/unknown I hope this helps other people decide or install. I can load more pics
TL;DR there were no instructions, they don’t completely cover the pinch seam or tightly curve to the body, you have to cut off brackets on the rear frame, and drill 13 holes in the frame... but the craftsmanship seems top notch and sturdy.
I was shopping for a long time, wanted LOD destroyers but they’re not coming. Don’t like the look of the Armor Lite. Not waiting for Roam’s rusty product.
Schrockworks and Rusty’s were in the running as well.
Almost ordered Rock Hard angled down steps 100 times but just wasn’t sold on the look; if I had to do it over I’d get those instead for more straight forward install and likely sturdier mounting, as well as covering seam.
Then, I saw somebody mention TNT steps and liked that they were a little different from what’s been out, and that their stuff is sturdy.
Well, I still like the look but the install was a real B*#@. There were zero instructions, really? They have instructions for other products online so I think these are just too new.
They come bare metal, NBD I planned on priming/painting. I was gonna have them powder coated but read so many opinions on painting them so they’re easier to touch up when they get scraped... time will tell if I regret this.
Shot them with several coats of primer, followed by several coats of flat black and waited couple days to let paint harden.
Then, I tried lining them up to drill the frame.
There is a vertical bracket at the rear of the frame that you need to cut to clear room for the rear mount. Not super happy about having to do that extra work
I should’ve taken a before shot, but you can see where I had to cut/grind the bracket just above that rearmost hole, it was sticking down about to the hole. Used a cutoff wheel to remove it about even with the tab welded flush with the frame; ideally prob remove just a bit higher than that line actually.
I used the middle mount to help line everything up, which is convenient since it’s where you can center the Jack.
there are three mounts, and all three have bolts to drill/mount to the side of the frame.
The front mount also has a lip that goes underneath the frame, and a flag nut/bolt that attaches. Driver side does not have a hole for the bottom bolt and needs to be drilled. The passenger side has a hole and also uses the transmission bolts, so no holes drilled for passenger front mount - yay!
The middle mount goes under the body bolt, so you have to take off the middle body bolt as well as the two smaller nuts next to it. The body bolt doesn’t actually attach or tighten to the slider mount, but I had to remove it to get the slider mount into position. People worry about the body bolts but I went slow and kept backing it out, and it was the easiest part of the whole freaking install..
The rear mount only attaches to the side of the frame so has less of a reference point.
I used a Jack to try to position it as best I could, tightened the nuts beside the body bolt and the flag nut on bottom of the front mount. Then, I marked my holes, dropped the slider and went to drillin’.
I guess you could drill the holes and screw it in without removing the slider, but there’s no real way to drill the top hole on the rear mount without removing the slider. Lining it back up after wasn’t really that hard too be honest.
I bought some cobalt bits which helped, and pilot holes are an absolute MUST. Then buzzed through with a step bit.
I do like how they look, but I didn’t realize how much extra work went into mounting these compared to a straight bolt on affair.
13mm x4 and 10mm x8 Rubicon sliders
18mm x2 bolts passenger side tranny mount
18mm body bolt and 16mmx2 bolts beside body bolt
I think I drilled like 9/16 or something for the bottom bolts with the flag nuts.
I went to 5/16 with the step bit for the screws; I also used 3/8-16 tap for passenger side after struggling with driver side self-tapping screws, they had a hard time biting. I think that caused me to drill a little too much with the step bit and I stripped two of the frame holes with the screws on the driver side
To be honest the frame isn’t that thick and after stripping a couple holes I’m not as confident how sturdy these mount.. maybe I’ll spend some more time on them and weld them on
since these are relatively new/unknown I hope this helps other people decide or install. I can load more pics
Sponsored
Last edited:
