Reviews for Black Horse Off Road RJEWRJL OE Style Jeep Running Boards for 18-23 Jeep Wrangler JL Unlimited 4-Door
Wow!! That was quick.. They look great!!!
Install went well. Brackets lined up well. Overall, seems to be fairly sturdy and black color matched the rest as close as we could have wanted.
Overall, these side steps are fine. They seem to be reproductions of the factory side steps. The brackets are powder-coated steel, while the steps themselves are some sort of plastic. The installation is not difficult, but the instructions linked here are horrible. The sheet of instructions included with the steps is slightly better, but still has room for improvement. For instance, the hardware included with my set required a 12mm socket although the instructions claim 13mm, and there was no mention of the attachment brackets at all.
The side steps taper from front to rear, and each step is held on with three brackets. There are large brackets for the front and center positions, and smaller ones for the rear. Unlike what earlier reviewers encountered, in the set I received the four large brackets are interchangeable, with slots that allow for differing bolt locations. The included hardware differed somewhat from what both sets of instructions listed, but was adequate.
Things that you need to know: Each bracket has two stud bolts that insert through existing holes in the sheet metal seam along the bottom of the Jeep, and a large hole that aligns with an existing threaded hole in the underside of the body. Install the brackets on the Jeep first, but do not tighten any of the nuts and bolts because the brackets will need to shift in order to attach the steps. Start by inserting the bracket stud bolts through the holes in the sheet metal seam from the outside in; the brackets will then rest loosely in position while you place the hardware on from underneath. The large bolts (with washers) thread into the existing threaded holes on the underside of the Jeep body, while each of the stud bolts gets a nut and washer. With the brackets loosely in place, position the step on the brackets. From below you can install the small bolts (also with washers) through the brackets into the underside of the steps. Do not tighten the bolts attaching the steps to the brackets until you have all of them started. You will probably have to wiggle the brackets around a little to get all the bolts holes to line up. Once all of the step bolts are started, loosely snug them enough that the position of the brackets can be finalized, at which point you can tighten the hardware securing the brackets to the Jeep. Then finish tightening the bolts holding the steps. Do not over-tighten the step bolts because the steps are made of plastic with threaded metal inserts for the bolts to go into, and over-tightening will strip the inserts and they will spin in the plastic step. In my set, the large bolts attaching the brackets to the body needed a 12mm socket, while the small bolts and nuts for the studs all used a 10mm. Installation time for me was maybe two hours including unboxing the steps, sorting the hardware, and gathering tools. I strongly recommend wearing eye protection simply to keep stuff from falling into your eyes while you're working under the Jeep.
After determining there is a perfect order from small (back) to larger (front) brackets THE INSTALLATION was a snap. The installations were not well written, could not determine that there was a length difference between the two larger brackets based on the pictures on the instructions. They look great, however, putting on the driver side board, the front bracket, only two of the four holes aligned (see photos). My concern is that now since only 2 of the four holes for the front bracket have screws, there could be some vibration. Please advise.