Ubem
Junior Member
Has any one found or experienced broken running board step bolts on their new Rams after running board step installations? The steps were dealer installed and I normally perform my own work on the vehicles I own. The steps were installed before winter and probably tightened with an impact wrench. I bought the vehicle at the end of December 2018 and in the early winter months we experienced extreme cold weather in northern Illinois. Don’t know if the extreme cold temperatures or over tightening for the nuts caused these to break but I found them when I started to undercoat my truck in the spring after spending four months of rehabilitation after an injury where the vehicle was not driven. The dealer wanted to remove the steps and install new bolts but looking at these it seemed like it would cause some panel openings. I declined and advised that I would correct the problem myself. These bolts are called rivet bolts and have enough material that you can drill through the center of the bolt and either tap them with a 1/4 or 5/16 SAE tap and then install the appropriate bolt and washer. Don’t know why Dodge eliminated the step brackets like they had on previous models but I suspect that cost may have been a factor.