Alright, these bars come in a set that has 6 brackets, 4 nut-plates, 2 bars, and a whole mess of nuts, bolts, and washers.
These mount in the same holes as the Rubicon rock sliders (or so I hear, I don't have a Rubicon, or even the stickers).
The first thing you need to do is find a friend, because putting the nut plate above the tub and holding it in place while holding the bracket and starting the nut is pretty close to impossible. That being said, the nut plates are the first thing you need to put in. There are two of them per side, they go in the front and center bracket spaces. With those bolts started, then you can put the round hex key bolts through the sheet metal into the bracket. The back bracket does not use a nut plate, instead it uses a simple bolt that goes into a hole that is already in the body, and already has threads (why couldn't they put one of these in every place?).
After you get all 9 bolts started, you then want to put the nerf bar itself onto the brackets. Thankfully, it will hold itself there while you assemble the assorted washers and lock washers onto the bolts. There are 6 more bolts, 2 per bracket, that hold the bar to the brackets. Once you have all of them started, then you can go around and start tightening them up. The box comes with the hex key that you will need for tightening the smaller round bolts, but you will need a 10mm socket, a 16mm socket, a 10mm box end wrench (unless your socket is really low profile), and a 1/2in (it worked, so I don't know if they meant to mix metric and standard, or what) socket. You will need the box end wrench for the very front bracket, as there is very little room for the socket wrench. I used a 1/4 drive socket for the sheet metal bolts, and a 3/8 for all the others, but it comes with Grade 8 hardware, so I don't think you need to worry about breaking them. Having two just meant that we could both turn bolts at the same time.


The cheapest I found these was on eBay, through Truck Accessory Outlet. They were $139.00, plus $30 shipping. Other people seem to sell them as well, but these appear to work just fine. They have plastic endcaps on the end of the bars, but the steps are made of nonskid plastic, and the hardware is top quality. They don't move at all, and I can shake my whole Jeep with them.

 

Thanks for the write up, Doc. I have been wanting to put these on mine, but was waiting to see how good they were...now I know. Great looking Jeep by the way.

 

nice bars!

 

Looks good!! I just bought a set off ebay for $164 shipped to my door.

 

I bought chrome ones for Besttruckforless and they were 210 delivered and they install the same and work the same as above.

 

Thanks Doc! Just ordered some!

Maybe you should change your name to Dr. McEbay. You find all the good stuff.

Good thing I'm leaving most of my stickers on else we have identical Jeeps and tear a whole in the universe.


Now I just have to make a friend in the next week so I have help putting the bars on...

 

It took me 4 hrs, alone. I like the way they look, good product.

 

Finally got mine in after nearly 2 months of waiting!

Will be installing soon. Thanks for the great tips, Doc.

I will try to take some pics during the install to add here since the photocopied instructions that come with the steps suck.

 

Would these work as rock rails too? Or is it one of those close but no cigar kinda things?

 

I'd say better than the Jeep/Mopar steps, but probably not as good as true rock rails. But then again, what do I know ?