Amp Research power step 2019 Ram 3500

[JinwA]

Let’s save you all some grief.
1. most likely you will have to trim the excess metal on the pinch seam. To get clearance.
2. Amp Research will give a drawing for connecting the PNP that looks nothing like your truck. Most likely you will have 2 green boards under the drivers side instrument panel. Not 1. They are color coded. You want to plug into the one with the black back. Position doesn’t matter. It’s a buss.
For 1500 bucks you would think they have their **** together. They don’t.

 

[johanh13]

Let’s save you all some grief.
1. most likely you will have to trim the excess metal on the pinch seam. To get clearance.
2. Amp Research will give a drawing for connecting the PNP that looks nothing like your truck. Most likely you will have 2 green boards under the drivers side instrument panel. Not 1. They are color coded. You want to plug into the one with the black back. Position doesn’t matter. It’s a buss.
For 1500 bucks you would think they have their **** together. They don’t.

I have not seen any Amp power boards that connect to green with black back bus. Are these new boards? Please provide more info and photos, thanks!

OK, I looked at the AMP instructions again, I see what you are talking about now. One question still remains; why do they need to connect to the OBDii port? That is the whole reason I built my own harness and installed the OEM boards & module....

 

[JinwA]

I have not seen any Amp power boards that connect to green with black back bus. Are these new boards? Please provide more info and photos, thanks!

OK, I looked at the AMP instructions again, I see what you are talking about now. One question still remains; why do they need to connect to the OBDii port? That is the whole reason I built my own harness and installed the OEM boards & module....

I wasn’t a big fan of the OBDii plug either. On my truck if you pull the drivers side panel off . The 2 green blocks are facing away from you. One has a gray back and one has a black back. Sorry I had already deleted the photos.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Are you talking about the CANBUS blocks?

There's a secure and non-secure bus. You can see and access them easily by simply pulling off the headlight switch bezel.

The gray is forward of the black, closest to the firewall.

 

[JinwA]

Are you talking about the CANBUS blocks?

There's a secure and non-secure bus. You can see and access them easily by simply pulling off the headlight switch bezel.

The gray is forward of the black, closest to the firewall.

View attachment 5424

Yes, I just accessed it through the side panel. White and black backs on my truck. Black one is the one you use.

 

[hpc3]

The 4.5Gen AMP step install was definitely harder to get working than on my '08 2500 and '10 1500 Rams. You don't have to modify or cut the sill pinch welds but if yours is the ~3/8" longer one like on my early '19 3500 its a PITA to get the step ends to clear the weld when retracting. No amount of bouncing or "walking" the steps when deployed help seat (ie bend) the nutsert sill mounts in order to get the required clearance. After riding around with my steps stuck in the up position wondering how to fix I found a post on another forum where someone mentioned shimming the lower mount bolts to gain the necessary clearance. I ended up putting a thin washer between the AMP mounts and the sill/nutsert on the fronts and the boards work properly now. I'm not a fan of the OBD deploy either, I would have rather wired into the power module door leads like on the other installs.

This install/setup on the 4.5Gens definitely needs to be revised. Had I not already done this (removing factory nutserts, installing plates/new nutserts) a couple times before on my other trucks I think I would have sent these back. Oh and the lights are still in the box. No way am I drilling holes in the sills for this. Also they need to figure out how to just light the side that the door is open on. That can't be that hard (again - the power module install would be my preference). I did this during the pandemic crap in April/May so getting help was harder than normal. To AMPs credit I did get to speak with their support staff a couple times and they did send me replacements for the damaged caps and the sill screws I chewed up removing the mounts so many times. Cudos to AMP support. My $0.20.

 

[Brewbud]

I have the Amp steps arriving this week. Disappointed after reading this. I installed them on my 2007 and it was pretty easy. Sounds like I am in for a wonderful time this weekend. Any special tools that will make life easier. Maybe a right-hand drill attachment?

 

[hpc3]

I have the Amp steps arriving this week. Disappointed after reading this. I installed them on my 2007 and it was pretty easy. Sounds like I am in for a wonderful time this weekend. Any special tools that will make life easier. Maybe a right-hand drill attachment?

Yes to the right angle drill if you want to install the rivets (don't do this until you determine if they clear the pinch welds). The 4.5Gen metal is harder than the other Rams I've installed on too so you'll need a good bit as well if you choose to install rivets/lights. Everything else is pretty much the same as the older kits. Not crazy about the OBD connection but it hasn't been an issue here.

FYI the washer spacers on the front arm bolts is an easy fix if needed in retrospect. I never installed the rivets on mine FWIW.

Ping me if you run into issues... happy to assist.

 

[Brewbud]

Yes to the right angle drill if you want to install the rivets (don't do this until you determine if they clear the pinch welds). The 4.5Gen metal is harder than the other Rams I've installed on too so you'll need a good bit as well if you choose to install rivets/lights. Everything else is pretty much the same as the older kits. Not crazy about the OBD connection but it hasn't been an issue here.

FYI the washer spacers on the front arm bolts is an easy fix if needed in retrospect. I never installed the rivets on mine FWIW.

Ping me if you run into issues... happy to assist.

Thanks for the info. After reading the instructions, I thought the rivets would at least be needed on the back mounts. I haven't crawled under to look yet. I like the lights on my 07. I think I had to drill holes for those, but just in the pinch weld. Why the heck does it have an OBD connection anyway? I would rather not have it connected. I might order their passthrough cable.

 

[hpc3]

Thanks for the info. After reading the instructions, I thought the rivets would at least be needed on the back mounts. I haven't crawled under to look yet. I like the lights on my 07. I think I had to drill holes for those, but just in the pinch weld. Why the heck does it have an OBD connection anyway? I would rather not have it connected. I might order their passthrough cable.

I'm guessing the OBD connection is easier to use than wiring into the Ram power junction? I'd much rather wire in the old way vs take up the OBD port. Also I bought the OBD 2-jumper cable but it doesn't fit/replace the stock OEM one. It looks to be a generic plug vs something that can snap into the stock Ram location on mine. I need to revisit that.

 

[Jimmy07]

Why the heck does it have an OBD connection anyway?

I'm guessing the OBD connection is easier to use than wiring into the Ram power junction? I'd much rather wire in the old way vs take up the OBD port. Also I bought the OBD 2-jumper cable but it doesn't fit/replace the stock OEM one. It looks to be a generic plug vs something that can snap into the stock Ram location on mine. I need to revisit that.

The controller for the amp steps uses the OBD port to stay awake and listen for the door ajar messages on the canbus, so it knows when to deploy and retract the steps.

 

[Brewbud]

The controller for the amp steps uses the OBD port to stay awake and listen for the door ajar messages on the canbus, so it knows when to deploy and retract the steps.

Figured it was something like that. I guess I should have worded it why did they change it from the old method which tied into the same switch that sent the signal from the door. I don't care if the steps remain out for 10 seconds after I close the door.

 

[Brewbud]

I'm guessing the OBD connection is easier to use than wiring into the Ram power junction? I'd much rather wire in the old way vs take up the OBD port. Also I bought the OBD 2-jumper cable but it doesn't fit/replace the stock OEM one. It looks to be a generic plug vs something that can snap into the stock Ram location on mine. I need to revisit that.

If you are referring to the pass-thru cable I know they make two different versions. One is for Ram/Toyota. The other version is for everything else. I have one in my cart right now. I haven't pulled the trigger on it. My steps arrived this morning though.

 

[hpc3]

If you are referring to the pass-thru cable I know they make two different versions. One is for Ram/Toyota. The other version is for everything else. I have one in my cart right now. I haven't pulled the trigger on it. My steps arrived this morning though.

I have the Ram specific PN for the cable and it does not snap into the existing OEM mount. The OBD sockets are different from the FCA mounting in my '19 3500. Just FYI. I may eventually install this... sitting on the workbench for now.

 

[Brewbud]

I have the Ram specific PN for the cable and it does not snap into the existing OEM mount. The OBD sockets are different from the FCA mounting in my '19 3500. Just FYI. I may eventually install this... sitting on the workbench for now.

Interesting. I guess I won't order it. Maybe I will try somebody else's pass-thru cable.

 

[Brewbud]

Got it all installed. They work great. Went ok except for one backing plate that just didn't want to line up. That one took about 45 mins despite being perfectly aligned. Pinch weld rubbed initially but a bit of light bouncing fixed that. We felt that instructions were poor and there were even two different torque specs given for the nutsert installation. We ended up going with the stated 3.5-4 turns instead of the torque spec. I would love to find an OBDII splitter or passthrough that would mount into the stock location to clean up the installation. I would say the steps were a lot easier to install on the 3rd gens.

 

[hpc3]

Very nice. I'm glad you didn't run into issues as a few of us 4.5Gen owners did.

 

[Brewbud]

Very nice. I'm glad you didn't run into issues as a few of us 4.5Gen owners did.

We did have a few minor issues with the pinch welds but my heavy weight fixed them by bouncing. I see now what you were referring to about not installing the rivets. You are referring to the rivets for the top spacer on the front linkage, correct? Not sure why they want that to be riveted. It isn't going anywhere. I still need to install the lights. I have been debating on whether I should just install a real long LED strip there instead.