brandonjansen
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2013
- Posts
- 1,701
- Reaction score
- 1,013
- Location
- Abbotsford, BC, Canada
- Ram Year
- 2012 Ram 3500 Laramie Limited
- Engine
- 6.7 Cummins - Tuned and Deleted
AMP Powersteps Installed – 2-10-14 - Post 1
So I finally have another actual mod done to the truck that I can post up about. AMP Powersteps! I knew right from the get go that these would be going on the truck eventually simply because they'll be needed to get into the truck once it's 12 inches higher and I'm really not a fan of the look of running boards. So these steps are the perfect option.
Background:
Install:
Continued on post 22...
So I finally have another actual mod done to the truck that I can post up about. AMP Powersteps! I knew right from the get go that these would be going on the truck eventually simply because they'll be needed to get into the truck once it's 12 inches higher and I'm really not a fan of the look of running boards. So these steps are the perfect option.
Background:
I was originally going to buy the steps from Bully's Performance and had a price quote on them and was ready to order. But when how much the Canadian Dollar has dropped lately I figured it might be worth it to do a little research from Canadian dealers to see what kind of pricing I could get them for locally. I ended up finding a place in North Vancouver that had them in stock and could do them for only $10 more than what Bully's had quoted me. With that little bit of difference it literally saved me about $100 buying locally because of how low the dollar is right now. I definitely struggled with that decision since I love supporting Bully's Performance and dealing with those guys... but when we're getting into savings of $100 or more it just made sense to buy locally.
Install:
Anyways... about the install. I picked these up Friday after work and had them on by Saturday evening. I had a lot of work to do before hand seeing as all my tools and garage equipment was still packed in a trailer from when we moved. So first thing was unloading the entire trailer to get all my stuff (yes my tool box was at the VERY front of the trailer). Once I got that done I started getting things set up in the new shop. For now I just brought enough stuff out there to get the steps on so it looks a little bear. We have some big plans for the shop yet but I won't get into that right now. If you want to know, ask about it and I'll answer in a separate post.
I started by jacking the truck up as high as I could (obviously...) and then laid out everything on a table to make sure all the parts were there and to have easy access to them.
Because my truck came with factory steps on it the rivnuts were already installed in the front and back slots of the truck which reduced the amount of work I had to do slightly. However, since I plan on putting a BDS long arm lift on the truck fairly shortly I knew I needed to move the front bracket back far enough to clear the long arm bracket. I had done a bit of research online and watched a couple youtube videos to find out exactly where I needed them. If anyone is interested in seeing the video let me know and I'll post it up. I installed the front brackets two slots back from the front in order to give me enough clearance. I used the reinforcement bracket that came with the steps to mark out where I needed to drill the holes for the new rivnuts and then used a step bit to drill two 9/16" holes for them. I then installed the reinforcement bracket and riveted that in and then installed the two rivnuts. From there you need to use a template the comes with the steps to drill two holes for each bracket in the pinch weld of the truck. Just for extra reinforcement to keep everything solid. After that it takes a bit of messing around to get the brackets slid onto the bolts, in the proper place, and lined up.
I then grabbed the wiring harness and started running it down to each side of the truck from the engine compartment to make sure I had enough slack in it after moving the front mounts. I then drilled the holes for the LED light wiring and installed those and then wired everything up and tied it up to the frame and in the engine compartment. From there I installed the boards themselves onto the brackets.
Wiring up the steps in the engine compartment is very straight forward and the harness they provide is very good to reach everything. I tapped off the positive on the battery for power and used the factory ground behind the battery for the harness ground. Then I removed the TIPM to get to the connector with the "door ajar" wires on it. When you pull out the TIPM is the connector on the bottom passenger side of the module. Unplug it and pull it out to get at everything. The kit comes with 4 wire taps to connect the wires and everything is colour coordinated; you literally can't screw it up it's so straight forward. Then I put everything back together, installed the fuse in the main power line, and plugged in the control module.
Then it was time to test out the steps. The passenger side worked flawlessly but the drivers side wasn't retracting all the way. At first I thought the motor might have been turned too far one way and didn't have enough movement in the other direction to bring them all the way up. So I took the motor off, opened the door to put it all the way down, then reinstalled it on the extended step. Still didn't fix the problem. So then I decided to push on it a little bit when it was closing to see if it would go up. Sure enough, it did. So I tried it again only using a finger, and it still did. So I concluded it much just be something slightly misaligned and the safety feature on the step is stopping it thinking it's hitting something. Sure enough the rear bracket was at a slight angle. I loosened it off from the step and tapped it over a bit with a rubber mallet and that fixed the problem. Everything worked great!
I then got back under the truck and drilled out the body through the holes in the top of the brackets to install the last rivets and then went through and double checked all the bolts to make sure they were tight.
I started by jacking the truck up as high as I could (obviously...) and then laid out everything on a table to make sure all the parts were there and to have easy access to them.
Because my truck came with factory steps on it the rivnuts were already installed in the front and back slots of the truck which reduced the amount of work I had to do slightly. However, since I plan on putting a BDS long arm lift on the truck fairly shortly I knew I needed to move the front bracket back far enough to clear the long arm bracket. I had done a bit of research online and watched a couple youtube videos to find out exactly where I needed them. If anyone is interested in seeing the video let me know and I'll post it up. I installed the front brackets two slots back from the front in order to give me enough clearance. I used the reinforcement bracket that came with the steps to mark out where I needed to drill the holes for the new rivnuts and then used a step bit to drill two 9/16" holes for them. I then installed the reinforcement bracket and riveted that in and then installed the two rivnuts. From there you need to use a template the comes with the steps to drill two holes for each bracket in the pinch weld of the truck. Just for extra reinforcement to keep everything solid. After that it takes a bit of messing around to get the brackets slid onto the bolts, in the proper place, and lined up.
I then grabbed the wiring harness and started running it down to each side of the truck from the engine compartment to make sure I had enough slack in it after moving the front mounts. I then drilled the holes for the LED light wiring and installed those and then wired everything up and tied it up to the frame and in the engine compartment. From there I installed the boards themselves onto the brackets.
Wiring up the steps in the engine compartment is very straight forward and the harness they provide is very good to reach everything. I tapped off the positive on the battery for power and used the factory ground behind the battery for the harness ground. Then I removed the TIPM to get to the connector with the "door ajar" wires on it. When you pull out the TIPM is the connector on the bottom passenger side of the module. Unplug it and pull it out to get at everything. The kit comes with 4 wire taps to connect the wires and everything is colour coordinated; you literally can't screw it up it's so straight forward. Then I put everything back together, installed the fuse in the main power line, and plugged in the control module.
Then it was time to test out the steps. The passenger side worked flawlessly but the drivers side wasn't retracting all the way. At first I thought the motor might have been turned too far one way and didn't have enough movement in the other direction to bring them all the way up. So I took the motor off, opened the door to put it all the way down, then reinstalled it on the extended step. Still didn't fix the problem. So then I decided to push on it a little bit when it was closing to see if it would go up. Sure enough, it did. So I tried it again only using a finger, and it still did. So I concluded it much just be something slightly misaligned and the safety feature on the step is stopping it thinking it's hitting something. Sure enough the rear bracket was at a slight angle. I loosened it off from the step and tapped it over a bit with a rubber mallet and that fixed the problem. Everything worked great!
I then got back under the truck and drilled out the body through the holes in the top of the brackets to install the last rivets and then went through and double checked all the bolts to make sure they were tight.
Continued on post 22...
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