Did you know that running boards are the no. 1 aftermarket truck and SUV product sold in North America? Yeah, it surprised us, too. Most off-roaders look at running boards or steps as the first thing that gets destroyed when off the highway, and they're often the first pieces of a 4x4 that get taken to the scrap yard. But none of us can deny the fact that they do make entering and exiting a vehicle a much easier task, and the reality is that most truck and SUV owners are not off-roaders. This is why retracting steps like the Bestop Powerboards are such a huge success and sought after by every off-roader with a daily-driven vehicle. They're made for most fullsize trucks and SUVs made in the 21st century, and we think they'd sell to even old cheap truck owners if the Powerboards were made available for them. With a price tag around $1,100, the Powerboards are a bigger investment than standard running boards or steps, but it's a purchase that is never regretted once installed. The steps tuck up cleanly when retracted and make the difficult task of entering and exiting a lifted vehicle much easier for people of all heights. 1. The Bestop Powerboard kit comes with both steps, four retracting hinges, four LED lights, the wiring harness, and the controller for the steps. Of course, all necessary hardware and instructions are included as well.1. The Bestop Powerboard kit comes with both steps, four retracting hinges, four LED light 2. The Powerboards include an LED light for each of the four hinges. The lights plug directly into the included harness that supplies power to the Powerboard motors.2. The Powerboards include an LED light for each of the four hinges. The lights plug direc 3. Included clips attach to the body of the vehicle and give points to thread in four bolts to each hinge.3. Included clips attach to the body of the vehicle and give points to thread in four bolt 4. On our Super Duty, two bolts for our hinges went through the holes already in the pinch welds of the body.4. On our Super Duty, two bolts for our hinges went through the holes already in the pinch 5. Michael Taylor at Diesel Tech in San Jacinto, California, lended us a hand installing the Powerboards. Though they can be done by one person in a few hours, the process goes much more quickly if you have a team of two working on the Powerboard steps.5. Michael Taylor at Diesel Tech in San Jacinto, California, lended us a hand installing t 6. Each step has a sliding bolt plate that lines up to the hinges. This gives some flexibility of how far forward or backward you mount the step on the side of your vehicle. We suggest loosely bolting these in place while you determine where you want them because there is no moving them once the bolts start tightening the hinge and step together.6. Each step has a sliding bolt plate that lines up to the hinges. This gives some flexibi 7. With the steps bolted on, we manually swung both steps back and forth to make sure there was no binding in their movement.7. With the steps bolted on, we manually swung both steps back and forth to make sure ther 8. The motor is installed using three long allen screws. We installed ours with the step in a "down" position, and then plugged in the connectors from the wiring harness.8. The motor is installed using three long allen screws. We installed ours with the step i 9. The wiring harness is fairly simple and easy to install. You need to hook a positive and negative cable to the battery, splice into two wires under the carpet (for the steps' retraction/deployment actuation), and plug the connectors together for the Powerbaord controller, the two motors, and the four LED lights. The Powerboard controller was stuck onto the side of the fender with some double-sided sticky tape, and was the last thing we plugged into the wiring harness.9. The wiring harness is fairly simple and easy to install. You need to hook a positive an Did You Know? Did you know that you can keep your Powerboard steps down with the door closed? Just keep a few pounds of pressure on the step (with your foot) as you close the door, and the step will feel the resistance and default to staying open. This comes in real handy when accessing the roof of the vehicle.Did You Know? Did you know that you can keep your Powerboard steps down with the door cl Sources Bestop P.O. Box 307 Broomfield CO 80038 800-845-3567 www.bestop.com Diesel Tech 1685 S State St. San Jacinto CA 92583 951-766-5777 http://www.dieseltech1.com/ By Jerrod Jones Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
