Tried searching a little and didn't find the answer in the first 2 pages of a couple different searches ("nerf bar install" and "mounting nerf bar") so I will go to the knowledge well that is the F150online community.

I recently (well not so recently, but my truck has been in and out of the shop for a while, see post in electrical forum) put on a pro comp long AAL (gave me over 3" out back, leafs must have been real tired) and 3" PA body lift on my 02 4x4 SCab. I used to have just the Bully brand side steps on there, but now with the extra height my wife, who is 5'1" has a very difficult time even using those.

So my question is, what brands of nerf bars mount to the frame, not the cab so they can be closer to where they were before I added 4" to the cab height (BL+1" TB crank) since I will also be going up from a 32 to 35" tire in the next couple weeks. Or if there are none that mount to the frame, which hang lowest off the cab. I'd like to stay under or around $300

 

I don't know if there are any that mount to the frame, but local shops (if you have any) should be able to fab up some steps like those Bully ones but that reach farther down. I don't know how much it would cost to have done, but I can't imagine it being much over $300 because they're so simple and don't use a whole lot of material.

You could also maybe have the Bully steps you already have, if you still have them, extended.

 

Thanks for the reply KMAC, I had thought of that too, but with the BL I now have pretty much my entire rusty frame showing so was thinking the nerf bar could hide some of it. I've also had a couple incidents catching steps on rocks and tearing up the rockers so was wondering if there were any that mounted to the frame so the step would be the weak link instead of sheetmetal.

 

Rock sliders...

 

Rock sliders won't help with getting into the truck though.

You're welcome. If there isn't anything already made and ready to buy, custom fab may be the only way for you. I have some Nfab steps and I think something like those may work, just have the steps reach down further. Something like this could be a solution to hiding the frame and access for your wife. These would protect the rockers as well. The only issue I see is that you may only be able to pick 2 of the following: protection, access, good price. I think you can have 2, but probably not all 3 haha

 

Jeez KMAC, now you're brining me back to college economics courses and opportunity costs. I'll let you guys know what I decide to go with, probably will stick with a rocker mounted bar for cost considerations, on the plus side most of the brackets I've seen look like they would be fairly easy to fab up a slightly longer version.

 

Haha sorry brother! But sounds good, I'm sure you'll end up with something that suits your needs

 

I decided to go with the Raptor Series 4" Oval step bars (black). I made this choice due to the fact that they have the highest weight capacity at 500lbs (my dad is a bigger guy) and the best warranty at 10 years (we'll see how that goes) for low budget nerf bars. I looked at the other popular ones and there weren't any that had a capacity over 350 lbs or a warranty better than 5 years.

These are the black powdercoated, not stainless, I realize many stainless ones have a lifetime warranty, but I'm trying to just have the bumbers as the only chrome on the truck and may black those out eventually too.

At under $200 (autoanything w/ discount) the price is right and it looks like the brackets would be easy enough to modify if I need to let them hang lower for the wife. Thanks for the help everyone. I will be posting up a mini-build thread in the near future as I have not taken any pics since the 3" BL, AAL, and trim were blacked out and the nerf bars and new rims/tires should be arriving in the next couple of weeks.

 

Sounds good! Look forward to seeing the truck. I'm trying to get rid of all the nasty chrome too haha

 

Well, had them on for about a month now. Overall they are decent quality parts, other than the nuts/bolts, they are already showing signs that they will rust soon which is disappointing. Could be the fact that I drive around a coal mine that has a lot of H2S in the coal that's caused the early wear, but bolts are cheap at HD, will definately go brass/galvanized next time around.

Overall I'm pleased with the appearance of the steps, I'm pretty sure they were labled backwards as to which was driver and passenger side bars from the factory, if you put them on the way they were labled they came into the front fender well about a 1/2" so I flipped them. This actually works out well as they now stick out from the side about the same as my tires, I no longer fear parking anywhere since the lift with the bars will prevent any sort of door ding. I'm interested to see how the powdercoat finish holds up, but there is a 10 year warranty that I have kept all paperwork for so hopefully they stand behind it if I have any problems.

As far as the brackets, I like how low they hang and my wife is happy with the height, I would say they hang about 3.5-4" down, I could get a measurement if anyone really wants to know. My only frustration seems to be related to my truck. The passenger side is solid as a rock when getting in, however I think chemistry (oxidation aka rust) has gotten the better of my driver side rockers as there is quite a bit of flex when standing on the driver side. I've tried remounting at different locations with the same results, just think the drivers rocker is weak, which doesn't surprise me since that seems to be the worse side on the frame as well.

Overall, for the price, finish, ease of installation, and overall quality; I would recommend the Raptor Series step bars. I'm happy with them and am more than willing to answer any other questions people may have.