AMP Power Steps on an 80 series (1 Viewer)

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Mar 22, 2015
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Queen Creek, Az.
Well I picked up the next "Square peg in the Round Hole" project.

Going to work out getting these Amp Power Steps from a 2009 Chevy 1500 crew to work under the 'cruiser.

AMP does not have a set for the '93 Land Cruiser but they say you can fit one of their "Universal" kits if you make all your own brackets. Well if I have to re engineer them to fit, why spend $1,200.00 for them. I landed this set, full working for $500.00.

So this bit of kit goes on the shelf in the " ...next in line after" slot for when the lift is finished. I plan to take a lot of pics of this as I figure things out so it may go slower than it might otherwise..

 
Put one on the back to give you a push start on steep inclines.
 
What is the purpose of these? Are you that short? Just trying to figure out why you would do this.
 
That'll look be sweet. It would be cool to mount them behind some of low-profile sliders - that way they're useful everyday but protected on the trail. :geek:
 
What is the purpose of these? Are you that short? Just trying to figure out why you would do this.

A couple of reasons. First, of the entire vehicle, the running boards are the only part that are in less than great shape. Second, I hate the look of the stock running boards but with the coming lift, it will need a step of some sort so I can get my old butt into it.

I have a set of these power steps on my Tundra and love them. More important the wife loves them. They are there when you need them but the rest of the time they are tucked up nice and neat.
 
That'll look be sweet. It would be cool to mount them behind some of low-profile sliders - that way they're useful everyday but protected on the trail. :geek:

As I have indicated in the past, this is not meant as our trail rig. We have a Jeep and a Bronco for that as well as the Tundra if we want a bit of foul weather trailing. This is our traveling rig and while it will see some snow, it will likely never see any trail worse than a AZ forest road. I know that is sacrilege for many on this forum but in the end we have a very comfortable rig for daily driving and road trips. Also, should the need arise, we know it is dependable and capable in a zombie attack.
 
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That's very interesting. They will go very nice under your 80. I was not aware of their "Universal Kit". I have been trying to get rid of some steps for my 2013 GMC 2500HD and have had many people interested but I could not say if they would have been able to fit them to the various vehicles they had. I am also learning that AMP Research is now making a wiring harness that will plug straight into a vehicles OBDII port. Making installation much easier. Good luck with the mod. Eager to see the final product.
 
That's very interesting. They will go very nice under your 80. I was not aware of their "Universal Kit". I have been trying to get rid of some steps for my 2013 GMC 2500HD and have had many people interested but I could not say if they would have been able to fit them to the various vehicles they had. I am also learning that AMP Research is now making a wiring harness that will plug straight into a vehicles OBDII port. Making installation much easier. Good luck with the mod. Eager to see the final product.


The guy I found had these listed off and on for nearly 6 months. I think there is a disconnect with people right now with regard to the "automatic Steps" If they want steps they see the power steps which cost 1200.00 or the "bestop" or "go rhino" or other steps/nerf bars for 350.00 and don't see the advantage. Then they look at the installation of power steps and go "Oh Hell, I can't do that." The guys that do have the skills for the installation, on average, are also the guys that are more inclined to go with sliders because they are modding for ground clearance and rocker protection.

AMP's "Universal Kit" is nothing more then 2 specific lengths of the step extrusion (you give then the dimension from the front door gap to the rear door back gap and they send you something equal plus a few inches) a basic wiring harness and controller a pair of "universal" pivots and a pair motor drive arms and arms. You get to figure out how to make it all work for your application and the kit is still about a grand.

When I installed the Amp's on my Tundra 5 years ago it was quite a project and I can see where a plug-n-play option would have made it a lot simpler. The physical mounting, for steps used on the make/model specific is pretty straight forward, the integration into the electrical is/was a P.I.T.A. This project should prove to be a challenge as I will have to shorten the step extrusions about a foot then fabricate mounting for the pivot/motor arms that translates the 'Crusier body to the Chevy specific mounting of these steps. The electrical will be a matter of isolating the door switch's in the harness for each door and matching them to inputs on the AMP's controller. Again, Translating the Chevy into Toyota (or visa-versa) so they talk correctly.

I am looking forward to the project.
 
A couple of reasons. First, of the entire vehicle, the running boards are the only part that are in less than great shape. Second, I hate the look of the stock running boards but with the coming lift, it will need a step of some sort so I can get my old butt into it.

I have a set of these power steps on my Tundra and love them. More important the wife loves them. They are there when you need them but the rest of the time they are tucked up nice and neat.

Ok. I can get with this thinking.

However, I can't get with the "Jeep as a trail rig" thinking... :flipoff2:
 
Ok. I can get with this thinking.

However, I can't get with the "Jeep as a trail rig" thinking... :flipoff2:

:clap::clap::clap::clap:

Yea, well it's more a matter of "I have the Bronco and I have the Jeep and they are both more suited to rougher trails currently than taking the 80 in the same direction". I would not have the Jeep if a friend had not said he needed to get rid of his project and came to me first. After 5 years of every Birthday/Christmas buying him Jeep goodies...I felt I was a financial investor in it already. I could not let it go to a stranger.
 
I have been looking at these steps for our 98 Chrysler Town and country minivan so our son can get it and out easier (cerebral palsy). I looked at Ford, but they have a lot of operational issues and computer failures.

They don't make one specific for our van. I would need the universal kit because I'm mechanical, but spark chasing gets confusing sometimes, especially if involves a computer.
 
Well the first step in this process is now complete.

I have not really had full time effort to this little project but as I had to replace the burnt out catalytic converters and the rest of the exhaust system it was time to set the stage for the steps. No reason to do all this twice.

So, step one is to actually free up some space to make room for the mounting hinges/brackets of the power steps. Drivers side, no problem, tons of free space. Passenger side big problem. On the '93 it has two "cats" (catalytic converters) that live in a vertical position at the end of the manifold down pipe. The side-by-side orientation leaves no space for the forward (normally the powered) hinge/bracket of the AMP Power Steps. Even with the exhaust changes performed as follows the only hope for the power steps is to reverse them and put the non powered hinge/bracket forward and the powered bracket aft.

To make some room I converted the forward end of the exhaust system to '96-up spec which uses single file cats. To make the change work, since the '96- up emissions uses a before and after O2 sampling I had to first add new O2 sensor ports to the new Y-Pipe and delete the forward port that comes on the
MagnaFlow 23120. I used the LC Engineering 1045035 Oxygen Sensor Install Kit x2.



Then the cat had to be rotated 90 degrees and tucked in close to the frame rail...


...and a new section made to run from the cat over the frame rail to mate with the new Bosal KIT6486416 muffler/exhaust kit for the '93 Land Cruiser. The factory outside frame rail exhaust hanger/bracket assembly was deleted and a new hanger installed inside the frame.


Now that this is done, there is about 6.75" between the cat and the inside of the body rocker. The non powered bracket should just fit.


More as I progress...But as I finally have the 'Cruiser running with out a studder (it's running really great now) and the bad exhaust is resolved it is on to the lift. Then the steps will really find their usefulness and I will have more shoulder room for the hundreds of test fittings.
 
Did you ever finish this project? I'm considering adding the AMP Research steps to my 80 and would love to see what you did to make it happen.

It is still a project on the back burner. Had a lot of trouble with the 'Cruiser on the drivability side we have been working through so if it was not running steps seemed irrelevant.

Now that it is running once more the lift is back on the schedule and the steps soon to follow.

The biggest issue I ran in to to this point was the location of the cats which I hopefully resolved when I reworked the whole exhaust system. Still, it appears I will have to invert the position of the brackets to put the motor driven bracket in the rear instead of the front.
 

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