Bed Steps Comparison

[Boxerrider]

I bought one of those from Amazon for $83, it is in every way identical to the oem unit as far as I can tell and even came with "Mopar" instruction sheet.

I would have lived without one for the $350 they want for the oem part

I bought one of these too. $115 now - still a reasonably good deal.

 

[bgenlvtex]

I bought one of these too. $115 now - still a reasonably good deal.

$115 is still one third the realistic street price for the one in oem packaging.

If you have prime it ships free, I couldn't find one in oem packaging that I didn't have to pay freight of $30-40 . So when you factor in freight it is closer to one quarter than one third the price.

The only indication I got from the $83 Amazon deal was not %100 the oem kit was the hardware (not oem mopar fasteners) and the instructions (with mopar publication number) was a photocopy.

I've bought a lot of mopar factory parts and accessories and the fasteners and instructions are consistent.

One can only speculate where these came from. It is almost a given that Mopar oem supplier for this part is/was Chinese. So one way or another you know a Chinese manufacturer had/has the data file, the tooling .

The sudden abundance of these things in the secondary market feels inorganic and unnatural.

Maybe these things failed QC or were otherwise returned/rejected/undelivered and the Chinese are selling them direct to the consumer. The seller names are all the random alphabet names (with no corresponding english translation) characteristic of Chinese sellers.

I don't know.
I do know that for anywhere near $100 it is a good deal

 

[flan]

$115 is still one third the realistic street price for the one in oem packaging.

If you have prime it ships free, I couldn't find one in oem packaging that I didn't have to pay freight of $30-40 . So when you factor in freight it is closer to one quarter than one third the price.

The only indication I got from the $83 Amazon deal was not %100 the oem kit was the hardware (not oem mopar fasteners) and the instructions (with mopar publication number) was a photocopy.

I've bought a lot of mopar factory parts and accessories and the fasteners and instructions are consistent.

One can only speculate where these came from. It is almost a given that Mopar oem supplier for this part is/was Chinese. So one way or another you know a Chinese manufacturer had/has the data file, the tooling .

The sudden abundance of these things in the secondary market feels inorganic and unnatural.

Maybe these things failed QC or were otherwise returned/rejected/undelivered and the Chinese are selling them direct to the consumer. The seller names are all the random alphabet names (with no corresponding english translation) characteristic of Chinese sellers.

I don't know.
I do know that for anywhere near $100 it is a good deal

There was a bed step recall early on. Hopefully these are the new design and not the old….

 

[bgenlvtex]

There was a bed step recall early on. Hopefully these are the new design and not the old….

Bed step recall , that was 2020. The failure was in a welded steel brace. That brace is pretty substantial.

That said, who knows.

I could see a 350 pounder folding that thing up like a Dollar Store lawn chair

 

[Boxerrider]

I'm wary of most Amazon purchases.
This one has a stamped steel brace. The small bolt that holds the brace to the main casting seems like a weak point. It is a reasonably long bolt, but I will check on it occasionally.

 

[Boxerrider]

I examined the brace today. It is two individual pieces welded together at the same place as the OEM.