I finally got around to getting the Amp steps installed. First I had a black stripe painted along the rockers similar to the factory ones the Power Wagon. This went a long ways in improving the look of the truck in my opinion. So here’s some observations I gathered during the install.
1. Amp has changed the design of the mounting plates in the last year or two. My uncle and I watched the YouTube video of a set being installed and it was a touch different than what we had to do.
2. I went ahead and removed the factory rivnuts right off the bat. You have to be careful about getting them out through the bigger hole. A flexible magnet is very handy.
3. Mounting the reinforcement plates went ok. Just take your time as it’s easy to overdo putting the new rivnuts in.
4. We actually had to take a file and remove a slight amount of material from the front linkage mounts to get one of the mounting bolts in. Not a big deal but I was thinking “really?”.
5. We ran the harnesses to the motors down the body of the truck instead of the frame. There would not be enough wire length to reach the LED lights otherwise. We drilled a few holes and used the Christmas tree type zip ties to make that happen. For some reason, the motors are mounted to the rear linkages instead of the front. I haven’t figured that out yet.
6. Here’s the BIG one. The instructions tell you to locate the green circuit boards that are up under the dash in just about the worst place possible. You are to connect the part of the OBDll harness to one of them. I picked the one facing the front of the truck. We hooked everything up, put the fuse in the harness last as directed and the steps went up and stayed there. You would think that opening the doors would deploy the steps down right? A big no there. It turns out that you have to use the green board that’s the rearward one. So.. I’m having to reach up in there again with my caveman hands and unplug the harness from the forward board and plug it into the rearward one. An hour or so later with blood running down my arm I got it done. I also made sure that the purple wires were connected correctly. After washing the blood off, I put the fuse back in and boom! Everything worked as it was supposed to.
So be advised.. if you’re installing the steps yourself, be damn sure to use the rearward green circuit board. There is nothing in the semi terrible instructions that mentions this at all. Have some of the Christmas tree type zip ties handy. They plug into a 1/4 inch drilled hole and you then zip tie the wiring normally. It makes for a fairly clean installation.
Overall I’m very happy with them at the moment. At least I can get in the damn truck now fairly easy. My current medical conditions have taken most of the “just hop up in there” that I used to have away so I had to do something. Anyway, if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
I’ll post some pics maybe tomorrow.
1. Amp has changed the design of the mounting plates in the last year or two. My uncle and I watched the YouTube video of a set being installed and it was a touch different than what we had to do.
2. I went ahead and removed the factory rivnuts right off the bat. You have to be careful about getting them out through the bigger hole. A flexible magnet is very handy.
3. Mounting the reinforcement plates went ok. Just take your time as it’s easy to overdo putting the new rivnuts in.
4. We actually had to take a file and remove a slight amount of material from the front linkage mounts to get one of the mounting bolts in. Not a big deal but I was thinking “really?”.
5. We ran the harnesses to the motors down the body of the truck instead of the frame. There would not be enough wire length to reach the LED lights otherwise. We drilled a few holes and used the Christmas tree type zip ties to make that happen. For some reason, the motors are mounted to the rear linkages instead of the front. I haven’t figured that out yet.
6. Here’s the BIG one. The instructions tell you to locate the green circuit boards that are up under the dash in just about the worst place possible. You are to connect the part of the OBDll harness to one of them. I picked the one facing the front of the truck. We hooked everything up, put the fuse in the harness last as directed and the steps went up and stayed there. You would think that opening the doors would deploy the steps down right? A big no there. It turns out that you have to use the green board that’s the rearward one. So.. I’m having to reach up in there again with my caveman hands and unplug the harness from the forward board and plug it into the rearward one. An hour or so later with blood running down my arm I got it done. I also made sure that the purple wires were connected correctly. After washing the blood off, I put the fuse back in and boom! Everything worked as it was supposed to.
So be advised.. if you’re installing the steps yourself, be damn sure to use the rearward green circuit board. There is nothing in the semi terrible instructions that mentions this at all. Have some of the Christmas tree type zip ties handy. They plug into a 1/4 inch drilled hole and you then zip tie the wiring normally. It makes for a fairly clean installation.
Overall I’m very happy with them at the moment. At least I can get in the damn truck now fairly easy. My current medical conditions have taken most of the “just hop up in there” that I used to have away so I had to do something. Anyway, if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
I’ll post some pics maybe tomorrow.
