I'm sorry but I just spent the last half hour searching on the forums looking for the answer maybe I'm just not doing my search right.... Anyway!

I have a 2005 Ford FX4 Scab and purchased the Westin Platinum Series side steps. They came in last night and I tore the box open and laid out the parts. I was extremely pleased until I saw the instructions.

I see the mounting brackets and after a few minutes of staring at the underside of my truck I realized they actually mount to the body and not the frame. However when I line up what looks like the appropriate holes I can't see the holes I would slide 2 clip nuts into. I moved the front brackets forward and back to the various holes in the body and what looks like the correct spot has a big black pad where I would put the clips?

Is this just some sort of protective pad that I can remove that prevents corosion? I'd hate to start scraping and peeling to find out that I had the brackets in the wrong dang spot.

Forgive me for starting a new thread, the instructions frankly suck and I did try to search for my answer. I'm an IT guy not a wrench guy. I thought I would do this project myself and save the 150.00 my local dealership wanted to install steps for me. Thanks ahead, I'm hoping someone has run into this too.

 

I'm about to install some this weekend. I haven't had a chance to look at it b/c I haven't picked the steps up yet. Hopefully someone will reply. If not, I'll let you know. I've installed a few before on other trucks (no F150 yet) so hopefully I can figure it out. Good luck!

 

Well the weather is so nice that I'm going to chance it and I'll post back with the info.

I was looking at it again, and it looks like some sort of patch that must be covering up the holes to prevent dirt and water from going in the holes. It feels pretty stiff so I don't think it's paper, but we'll see.

If that's the case then thats a nice touch Ford, my old Chevy had all kinds of holes in the body for bolt ons that were just left open to the environment.

 

Pull off the black tape and the holes will be exposed. I don't have Westins , but mine also required the removal of the rubber plugs that sit in the holes in the rocker panel. I hope this helps

 

Yeah when I looked initialy I couldn't see the black tape on the black truck with the dirt covering it... Go figure!

When I crawled under there and wiped the area clean in prep for the instal I saw it for sure. Worked out easier than I thought. Their instructions sure are lacking, but I got them on this weekend. Man they are a lot beefier than I thought they would be seeing as they are bolted to the body and not the frame.!

 

I'm going to be putting a set of these on myself very soon, I may have questions. Hope the installs went well.