Uh, they also protect your fender flares from chips; specifically the fronts of your rear fender flares. I had to have the painted fender flares on my '04 TJ Columbia Edition repainted because the PO removed them, and this is with tires that fully fit w/in the fender flares. When you turn your front wheels, small stones WILL fly out of your tires and chip those flares. If you don't care about same, so be it. Me, I'd rather throw my pants in the laundry a little more often, or wipe the edges of the side steps now & again...I am considering taking mine off! the only thing they are good for is making the inside leg of your pants dirty as you step over them!
My new work 4x4 I specifically requested no side steps.
OK I have the painted 4 1/4 flares so I wont remove the steps then lol
I was able to buy just the hardware, but I had to call them to order it. My goofy little stainless u-bolts and everything else was like $50. I would imagine yours would be cheaper.
Thanks a bunch! I ended up just ordering m8x1.25 rivet nuts from grainger hardware and got bolts and washers from Lowes. It was pretty cheap for the necessary hardware. Everything installed well and the steps are pretty sturdy.
Here was my resolve on this issue. I could not find you bolts to install my OEM running boards anywhere. Was going through the hardware store and saw one of these exhaust pipe hangers. I realized they were about the same width as the holes in my Jeep TJ frame. I got one and I tried it and it was almost exactly the same width. I bought four of them and started working on them at home. I put the first one in a vise and took a steel pipe and pulled down on it and expanded it about another eighth of an inch. Next I took a die I believe it was a 3/8-16 NC and threaded the clamp all the way up to the bend. Lastly I cut a little bit off of each end I believe I left 1" on the top end and 1-1/2" was what I left on the bottom. I will be using flat washers at the end and plastic end no slip nuts to keep them from backing off. I am hoping that my solution will help other Jeepers install their running boards without having to install nutzerts into the frame. Believe me I looked all over the Internet for almost a week and I could not find any of these u-bolts to install my OEM running boards. I hope this will help others, it will take a little work to make these but I think it's going to be the best resolve.
