Kodiak Sidewinder Steps

[David Muench]

I finally got my Kodiak Sidewinder steps today. I am impressed. They are very, very beefy. I completely believe their claim that it will hold up to 350 lbs.



Have I got them installed? Well, uhh. . No. This has been the coldest week for the winter so far up here, and I am trying to get over a cold. . And I am going out of town all next week (at least I'm taking my Ram ). So I won't be able to install them till Feb at least.



Would pictures of the un-installed steps help anybody, or would I be wasting my time? I don't think there's many detailed pictures of the steps out there.



Can't wait. . Dang weather/cold.

 

[radar doctor]

Pictures of the steps?

David would you please share the Steps with Me? Also where can I order them?? Tks Bill

 

[Prairie Dog]

My Westins arrived today but I'm in the same boat, the weather is lousy and I can't get to it till the weekend. :{

 

[JDanford]

Steps

I'd like to see some pictures, too; any of you guys that have running boards, side steps, nerf bars, etc. I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out what to put on? I had Mopar running boards on my 2000 but never used them; just always stepped over 'em & got mud all over the inside of my pant leg. I don't think I like the idea of 4 steps hanging down; & the nerf bars seem really cumbersome. So, give us some ideas! Just got my Jake brake installed today; they did an OK job, I guess; but I noticed they bent a few of the condenser fins on the top when they were installing the pump, & didn't run the wire through the boot, just wire tied it onto the shift lever. Seems like it works about the same as my Pac Brake on the 2000, but this one's got a couple second delay when you switch it on, whereas the Pac Brake was instantaneous.

 

[Fireman]

David,



Do you have them for all 4 doors, or just the front. You need to install at least one so you can give us a better report.



Fireman

 

[David Muench]

I got them from Geno's. I only got the front 2 for now, I want to install those and make sure I like them before I order the back two.



I'm going to make an attempt on Saturday, it depends if I'm over this cold by then or not. In the meantime, I'll take some pictures of the steps uninstalled tonight.

 

[Doubleclutch]

Hey guys, I heard the installation time was much reduced in that kind of weather. . As a non-hee haw, a couple of years ago I bought some cheap mini-flood lights from JC Whitney, and installed them under the cab. Took some work to wire them to come on with the dome light, but really lights up the ground below the step nicely at night!

Greg

 

[David Muench]

Here's some pictures of the uninstalled steps.



First, a complete step in it's box:

#ad




The wiring kit (nice weatherpack connector), wiring loom, and the bracket kit:

#ad




Front view of the step:

#ad




Rear view of the step - nice weatherpack connector, grease zerks on the bottom of the step arms:

#ad




A labeled view of the bracketry loosely labeled (not properly assembled):

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Edit: Heh, those labels are pretty unreadable. . The top left says "Plate that bolts to the back side of the door sill", middle right is "Brackets that go up to the underside of the floor", and the bottom middle says "Angle brackets that attach to the underside of the floor".



The front pair of steps attach to a crossmember on the cab floor, so no drilling through the actual floor is required. It comes with bolts on straps to fish into the hard to reach places. The rear set of steps actually bolts through the floor, so you have to pull up some carpet in the back to install them.



More pictures to come as I progress. .

 

[David Muench]

More pictures. . I plan to eventually have 4 steps on the truck. That means 4 power leads with 4 inline fuses all going up to the battery. I thought that would be a bit ugly, so I decided to get a fuse block to run all the steps to, and then 1 wire to the battery.



The only problem was, I couldn't find a nice weatherproof fuse block that had 4 constant hot circuits. The best I could find was a Painless Wiring 7 circuit weatherproof, but unfortunately it had 4 ignition hot and only 3 constant hot. So I did some surgery - removed the relay and associated wiring, and soldered the leads to both sides of the fuse block together to make it a 7 constant hot fuse block. I can even use the extra 8th fuse that originally was for the relay as a spare fuse holder.



Here's the before picture from the bottom:

#ad




And the after, with some shrink tube over the solder joint:

#ad




Should work fine, and I have 3 extra constant-hot circuits for future use.

 

[radar doctor]

Great Pictures

These are great pictures. Hope you will show what they look like on the truck???TKS... Oo. Oo. Oo.

 

[pnwradar]

When I got mine last year, the steps came with some blind nuts that require a special tool for installation. After dinking around for the better part of an hour, I ended up drilling holes completely through the floor pan, and installing regular bolts with some sealant to prevent leaks.



My Dad just got a pair for his truck, and the same blind bolts came with his kit. He's figuring his options, to see whether it's worthwhile to find the special tool, or just do a simpler bolt-through install like mine.



-jon-

 

[Casey Balvert]

Originally posted by Prairie Dog

My Westins arrived today but I'm in the same boat, the weather is lousy and I can't get to it till the weekend. :{

Yeah the weather sucks big time. -1F this morning on my way to work. And I have my CB radio, running boards, mud flaps and exhaust brake all sitting in boxes begging to be put to work. Hate that. I would kill for a heated pole barn right now. Oh well. Heat wave next week, going up to 32.



Casey

 

[David Muench]

I'll definitely post install pictures, once I am able to install them.



If you look at the second picture of the box of parts, you can see 3 bolts welded to long straps of metal. . That's what they use on the 3rd gens at least. You fish it through the frame, tighten it up, and then snip off the extra bit of the strap that's sticking out.

 

[Duck]

David, that red "Kodiak" logo- is it a sticker, or paint or what? Just wondering if it can be removed.

 

[Duck]

David, that red "Kodiak" logo- is it a sticker, or paint or what? Just wondering if it can be removed.

 

[David Muench]

It's a sticker. One of those 3D type ones, it's rectangular and made out of rounded plastic gel with the "Kodiak" painted on the inside of it I think.



Probably not describing it very well, but I'd think it could come off.

 

[David Muench]

Bad news - I'm going to be in Boston for 2 weeks now instead of just one, so it's going to be well into Feb. before I can think about installing the steps.



Sorry guys. .

 

[Fireman]

WELL!

Looks like I'm going to have to do it!



I was concidering just what you did, by one pair and if I was satisfied get the other. Can't say I like the idea of drilling holes in the floor pan though.



Fireman

 

[David Muench]

Yeah, but at least that's only for the rear pair. I'm just going to paint and silicone those up good when I get to them.

 

[David Muench]

Argh. I don't know when I'm going to get these installed. After being out of town 2 weeks, now I'm back and it's too cold to work on them. It was -13F the other morning, not including the gusty wind. I started working on them 1 night, but couldn't decide where to put the door switches on the front, and gave up.



I'll get them installed someday, really, I will. .