The upgrade that gets used every single day
This is the most-used accessory on a lifted truck and the one people put off the longest. The real reason customers finally call is not looks. It is a spouse who cannot reach the seat, a parent who will not ride along anymore, a kid climbing the tire to get in, or a knee that has had enough. Steps fix that in an afternoon, and everybody in the household notices.
There is no single right answer. A 6-inch oval board is a wide, flat platform anyone can step on. A drop step or nerf bar tucks tighter and clears an off-road trail. A power-retracting step like the AMP Research PowerStep drops six or seven inches lower than a fixed board and hides when the doors close. A rock slider is not a step at all — it is armor that happens to hold your foot.
We install AMP Research, N-FAB, and Westin on trucks, SUVs, Jeeps, and crossovers, 2WD and 4WD alike, at the shop on Trey Lane in Argyle. Every job gets quoted in writing before anything is ordered, with labor at our $150/hr door rate and the hardware listed line by line. Veteran-owned, open Monday through Saturday, and most fixed board sets go on the same day you drop the truck off.
Wide oval and flat-step boards on cast or stamped brackets. The most step surface per dollar and the easiest on older passengers, but they sit lower and wider than anything else on this list.
N-FAB and Westin round bar with a bolt-on step pad at each door. Tucked close to the rocker, lighter than a full board, and far easier to hose the mud off after a wet weekend.
AMP Research PowerStep and equivalents. A motorized step that drops well below a fixed board when a door opens and pulls up flush with the rocker when it closes. The best answer for a genuinely tall truck.
Frame-mounted steel armor for Jeeps, Broncos, and off-road trucks. It takes a rock hit that would fold a running board bracket into your rocker panel, and it holds a jack or a high-lift.
Bed side steps and rear bumper or tailgate steps for anyone loading a lifted bed alone. Worth more than most people expect once the truck has a cover, a rack, or 35s under it.
We check bracket clearance against exhaust, fuel lines, spray-in liners, and mud flaps before drilling anything, and we swap in stainless or coated hardware where the factory kit gives you plain steel.
Drilling that did not have to happen — or did. Most modern trucks have threaded pinch-weld or frame holes and take a true no-drill kit. Plenty of older trucks, vans, and some SUVs do not, and the honest answer is that the bracket needs a hole. What goes wrong is drilling blind into a rocker with a brake line or a fuel line behind it, or leaving bare metal in the hole. We locate, drill clean, and seal every one.
Power step wiring and the door trigger. A PowerStep runs off a control module that has to see the door signal. On some trucks that is plug-and-play; on others the installer taps a door pin switch or a body module wire, and a sloppy tap means a step that deploys randomly, stays out, or drains the battery. The other failure is the motor pod, which sits low in the weather and eats mud, so grounds and connectors get sealed.
Texas hardware corrosion and the loose board. Between summer heat cycling, spring rain, and the road treatment on I-35, a plain steel bolt in an aluminum bracket seizes or rusts within a couple of seasons. Boards work loose, brackets elongate their holes, and then the whole assembly rattles and sags. We torque to spec, use anti-seize on dissimilar metals, and tell you to bring it back for a re-torque after the first few hundred miles.
A running board on a trail truck becomes something to catch. If you actually use the truck off pavement, a wide fixed board hangs below the rocker and out past the frame, which is exactly where a rock, a stump, or a ditch edge will grab it. Bent brackets pull rocker panels with them. That is the case for a drop step, a tucked nerf bar, or frame-mounted sliders instead.
A power step, almost every time. An AMP Research PowerStep drops several inches lower than any fixed board and sits well forward of the rocker, so it is a genuine first stair instead of something you have to lift a leg over. If the budget points elsewhere, a wide 6-inch oval board mounted as low as the brackets allow is the next best thing.
It depends entirely on the vehicle. Most late-model F-150, Super Duty, Silverado, Ram, Tacoma, and Wrangler applications bolt to existing threaded holes with no drilling. Older trucks, some vans, and certain SUVs need holes drilled in the pinch weld or frame. We tell you which one you have before you buy, and any hole we drill gets deburred and sealed.
A fixed board or nerf bar set is usually a couple of hours. Power steps take longer because of the wiring and module routing, and typically run most of a day. Rock sliders depend on whether they are bolt-on or weld-on. You get the estimate in writing before we start, and we will tell you if the truck needs to stay overnight.
A wide fixed board will, and it is the main reason we ask how you use the truck. Boards typically hang below the rocker line and add weight outboard. If you wheel, tow into pasture, or run washed-out county roads in Denton County, a drop step, a tucked nerf bar, or a frame-mounted rock slider keeps the break-over angle you paid for with the lift.
Our shop is at 4020 Trey Ln, Unit B in Argyle, and we work on trucks from Argyle, Flower Mound, Bartonville, Copper Canyon, Justin and Northlake, plus Denton, Roanoke, Trophy Club, Keller, Haslet, Highland Village and the wider Metroplex within about fifty miles.
Open Monday to Saturday, 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Closed Sunday. (940) 240-1958
More of what we do: Tonneau Covers · Brakes · Diesel Service · Lift Kits · Shocks & Suspension · Wheels & Tires · Vehicle Wraps · Window Tint · Vehicles we service · Fleet service
Authorized dealer for all 42 brands below.
Authorized dealer for every brand listed above. Running something that is not on this list? We can source and install almost any major aftermarket suspension, wheel, tire or accessory line — give us a call and we will price it out.