Removing Side Steps

[Chris]

i talked my buddy out of his 08 mazda 6 in to an 06 silvy crew. he was jelous of my sierra. the truck was 90% what he wanted. black, ls trim just the basics, 4.8, power windows and locks, he wanted an extended cab not a crew. but it was an 06 with 30,381 miles for $16,900.. well the truck was owned by a girl. had girly sickers or something under the tinting. we removed the window tint all the way around, and i put in a pioneer cd/ mp3, usb deck. and we put a flowmaster 40 series and a k&n cold air on it. now we need to remove the side steps. its 2wd and hes 6'5". they are a hassle. the brackets are bolted into the body mounts. any idea how to take those off, ive never done this.

 

oh im trying to get him as a member on here. havent had time to do it yet

[dsr611]

Removing the steps would probably be the easiest job of all...get under the truck, remove the bolts holding the brackets on, remove the steps, put the bolts back in, torque to specs, and you're done.

[Chris]

i figured that, but my question is that they bolt into the body mount bolts. if i remove the 2 bolts on one side will the body move? do i have to support the body somehow? and do they thread into the body or are there nuts on the inside of the cab?

[K1500Tech]

The body will not move by simply removing the mount bolts.

[pm26]

The best way to do this job is to remove each step from the brackets first, then remove one bracket at the time and reinstall the body mount bolt. This way you cannot run into any problems.

[Chris]

but are there nuts on the back side in the cab or is the body threaded

[ThreeQuarter]

I did this last night. The bolts seem to be threaded into nuts that are loose (not welded to the body), but the nuts must be contained somehow and unable to turn. I removed three at a time and put'em right back in, and only needed a ratchet.

 

I did find that my pickup had a large flat washer under the bolts in the rear cab mounts, but not in the middle and front mounts. Can you let me know how this compares to what you find?

 

Thanks, Ben

[Chris]

i might do this sunday. after nascar, while drunk. but i will look they are bolted to the front and rear. i just needed to know if i need to pull up his carpet

[dsr611]

I did find that my pickup had a large flat washer under the bolts in the rear cab mounts, but not in the middle and front mounts. Can you let me know how this compares to what you find?

My 2010 Sierra CC only had the washer under the rear mounts.

 

 

i just needed to know if i need to pull up his carpet

 

No need to pull up carpet.

 

If you have an impact gun, it will make everything go much faster. The bolts are about 6" long or so. When I installed my steps, I backed the bolts out with the impact, and used the impact to run them back up snug, then torqued the bolts back to specs.

[shocktrp]

The body mount steps may have aftermarket bolts that are longer than stock - I recently pulled a rusted set off a 2003 Blazer & I had to leave the aftermarket brackets because the bolts were too long.

[Chris]

i may have to leave them. no air tools i live in air force barracks. just have the basic hand tools

[BigBlueLB756]

Doesn't MWR still have some sort of Hobby Shop on base anymore? That's where most of the wrenching on cars and trucks used to be happening.

[Chris]

it is, but its closed on sundays and mondays. and coming off night shift right now and my friend works days and is still asleep by time i wake up it will be closed. we do our work in front of my room. its not bad. i have surround sound and have the front speakers set up so they can be moved out front. he does vehicle maintenance but on like forklifts and ive wrenched most things on my gmc. so between us and gm-trucks.com we can figure most issues out and shadetree the problem. eglin afb doesnt have everything readily available when its needed.

[dsr611]

You can get them off with basic hand tools. I removed the first 2 bolts with a ratchet and socket and then remembered my electric impact. The impact would just speed up the process.