g-man
SILVER Star
Just bought a 2024 Tundra CREWMAX 3.4 v6 (non hybrid). My 1st work on it was to install power running boards. It's a bit of a step up and especially for my 5'4" wife. Also I've read some problems with the plastic trim on the lower left drivers side seat failing where it clips in. The plastic is thin there and I have a feeling that a lot of drivers are turning and sliding out of the seat to get down instead of standing on a running board and stepping out.
After shopping around I decided on Rough Country power running boards at a cost of $799.99. This may seem steep but other brands like go rhino and Amp Research were $1850 to over $2100.
Install was about a 4 1/2 hour job for me with cordless impact wrench. This will really speed you up vs a hand ratchet.
The nice thing is the rivnuts or nut certs or whatever are already their in the metal under the rocker panel. This means no drilling. The brackets have slotted holes that correspond to the existing bolt holes. So simply take the toyota bolts out (that are there holding nothing) and zip in the Rough Country bolts. A 13mm to remove and a 10mm to install. Leave the bolts a bit loose to adjust the brackets. The middle bracket goes to the 3rd set of holes. The 1st bracket with power motor goes to the 1st set of holes, the second set on the passenger side get the controller and it's bracket. The 3rd set of holes gets and idler bracket (no motor) and the last set gets a power motor bracket. This went very easy and just as you would image. Next install the boards to the brackets. They come with threaded aluminum blocks that move in a track. Line up the aluminum block with the corresponding block shaped hole in the brackets and slide the bracket to get it to the right spot. This is all very cantilevered so two sets of hand help here to hold the board until you get some screws started. Tighten the hex cap screws, (they screw upward) but don't lay on your back looking up, instead kneel and look downward at the bracket and board and it gets done easier. Once the boards are aligned and tightened go back and tighten the brackets to the rockers. If the space between the ends of the boards and the rocker are off you may need to loosen them all and do it again. I found that the rear was out and the front was tight on one board, loosening all the boards and starting at the back working forward helped center things up.
Run the passenger sensor wire (brown) and valet switch wire (black) up through a rubber body plug under the passenger side seat. There is already a ground wire going up through this plug, but plenty room for other wires. I ran the driver's side wire (white) across the underside crossmember and up through a body plug under the drivers seat. Once you remove the scuff plates you can easily lift enough carpet to reach in here.
Removing the scuff plate and b post panel were not hard at all but necessary to run wires to the door sensors. Just about everything unsnaps with the exception of the front passenger seatbelt. A 14mm socket removes that before the panel comes off. There is a plastic screw that you can remove by hand at the front of the passenger kick panel.
Running the sensor wires under the weatherstripping is where the 1st conundrum comes up. There is no hole or notch in the metal pinch weld under the weatherstripping. So do you bend your new sensor wire a hard 180 degrees and shove the weatherstripping back on it? No clear instructions here. I opted to do this but seriously considered taking my angle grinder and making a small notch in the metal, sanding the rough edges and running the wire through this to keep it from kinking so hard. In the end I couldn't force myself to grind on my brand new truck. If the wire fails at this bend there is enough wire in the harness to pull more re-attach the wire where it broke and THEN cut a notch.
Running the wiring under the truck wasn't too hard just stay away from exhaust and sharp bends. I stayed near the frame and cross member. They give you plenty of cheap zip ties. But they aren't big enough to go around the frame. I ziptied to existing harness, fuel lines, brake lines or whatever I could get around. I should probably go back with larger zip ties and go around the frame.
The valet on/off switch that runs to the drivers dash stows and turns off the boards only and in that order. Nice if you offroad or have an obstruction that you don't want to run your board into as it deploys. I'd rather have a switch that runs them out and turns them off so I can wash them with the doors closed or stand on them to wash the roof. But I found that pulling an inline fuse at the battery accomplishes this. Just open the doors, pull the fuse and close the doors. Eventually I may run a wire from the fuse/power line to a switch on the dash to save a step. But still requires opening the doors to deploy the board before throwing the switch.
They provide some small magnets with double sided tape to stick to your doors that activate the sensor mounted in the doorwell. I used a wet pea sized dab of rtv sealant on the sensor then closed the door find the spot to place the magnet. I suppose some thick grease would accomplish the same thing. Just find the spot, wipe it off and stick the magnet. The adhesive is pretty tacky so you don't want to have to try and move it once in place. Same with the sensors. Interestingly the magnets didn't stick to the front doors (aluminum?)but the 3m tape did work to hold them.
Led lights are also provided, I thought the door lights would be good enough but after temporarily taping them up with some painters tape and waiting for dark. Both me and my wife did like the LED lights. They plug into the harness. The plugs are very small with tiny pins so some strong reader glasses and good lighting helps when connecting the plugs. You don't want to force this. And you cant feel the pins go in the tiny holes and the plugs fit together very tight. I could see myself bending one of the tiny pins and having to cut the connectors off and install some more reasonable type of connector. I do have a fancy wire crimping tool. There are some small lines on the sides of the connectors to help line things up before carefully pushing them together. The flat spot that runs under the curve of the rocker is only about 5/8th inch wide but the flat back of the LED and the tape is 2x as wide. I used my own additional 3m double sticky tape and bent in an L shape and stuck to the overhanging LED and ran back up onto the inside wall of the rocker to help secure the LED lights.
They deploy very quietly but the brackets rattle a little when stowing. I only dinged my shin once so far. I was at the grocery store parking lot pulling the shopping cart close and getting my body in between the cart and the truck. Then I proceeded to open the door and the board hit shin bone! I don't think I'll do that again.
After shopping around I decided on Rough Country power running boards at a cost of $799.99. This may seem steep but other brands like go rhino and Amp Research were $1850 to over $2100.
Install was about a 4 1/2 hour job for me with cordless impact wrench. This will really speed you up vs a hand ratchet.
The nice thing is the rivnuts or nut certs or whatever are already their in the metal under the rocker panel. This means no drilling. The brackets have slotted holes that correspond to the existing bolt holes. So simply take the toyota bolts out (that are there holding nothing) and zip in the Rough Country bolts. A 13mm to remove and a 10mm to install. Leave the bolts a bit loose to adjust the brackets. The middle bracket goes to the 3rd set of holes. The 1st bracket with power motor goes to the 1st set of holes, the second set on the passenger side get the controller and it's bracket. The 3rd set of holes gets and idler bracket (no motor) and the last set gets a power motor bracket. This went very easy and just as you would image. Next install the boards to the brackets. They come with threaded aluminum blocks that move in a track. Line up the aluminum block with the corresponding block shaped hole in the brackets and slide the bracket to get it to the right spot. This is all very cantilevered so two sets of hand help here to hold the board until you get some screws started. Tighten the hex cap screws, (they screw upward) but don't lay on your back looking up, instead kneel and look downward at the bracket and board and it gets done easier. Once the boards are aligned and tightened go back and tighten the brackets to the rockers. If the space between the ends of the boards and the rocker are off you may need to loosen them all and do it again. I found that the rear was out and the front was tight on one board, loosening all the boards and starting at the back working forward helped center things up.
Run the passenger sensor wire (brown) and valet switch wire (black) up through a rubber body plug under the passenger side seat. There is already a ground wire going up through this plug, but plenty room for other wires. I ran the driver's side wire (white) across the underside crossmember and up through a body plug under the drivers seat. Once you remove the scuff plates you can easily lift enough carpet to reach in here.
Removing the scuff plate and b post panel were not hard at all but necessary to run wires to the door sensors. Just about everything unsnaps with the exception of the front passenger seatbelt. A 14mm socket removes that before the panel comes off. There is a plastic screw that you can remove by hand at the front of the passenger kick panel.
Running the sensor wires under the weatherstripping is where the 1st conundrum comes up. There is no hole or notch in the metal pinch weld under the weatherstripping. So do you bend your new sensor wire a hard 180 degrees and shove the weatherstripping back on it? No clear instructions here. I opted to do this but seriously considered taking my angle grinder and making a small notch in the metal, sanding the rough edges and running the wire through this to keep it from kinking so hard. In the end I couldn't force myself to grind on my brand new truck. If the wire fails at this bend there is enough wire in the harness to pull more re-attach the wire where it broke and THEN cut a notch.
Running the wiring under the truck wasn't too hard just stay away from exhaust and sharp bends. I stayed near the frame and cross member. They give you plenty of cheap zip ties. But they aren't big enough to go around the frame. I ziptied to existing harness, fuel lines, brake lines or whatever I could get around. I should probably go back with larger zip ties and go around the frame.
The valet on/off switch that runs to the drivers dash stows and turns off the boards only and in that order. Nice if you offroad or have an obstruction that you don't want to run your board into as it deploys. I'd rather have a switch that runs them out and turns them off so I can wash them with the doors closed or stand on them to wash the roof. But I found that pulling an inline fuse at the battery accomplishes this. Just open the doors, pull the fuse and close the doors. Eventually I may run a wire from the fuse/power line to a switch on the dash to save a step. But still requires opening the doors to deploy the board before throwing the switch.
They provide some small magnets with double sided tape to stick to your doors that activate the sensor mounted in the doorwell. I used a wet pea sized dab of rtv sealant on the sensor then closed the door find the spot to place the magnet. I suppose some thick grease would accomplish the same thing. Just find the spot, wipe it off and stick the magnet. The adhesive is pretty tacky so you don't want to have to try and move it once in place. Same with the sensors. Interestingly the magnets didn't stick to the front doors (aluminum?)but the 3m tape did work to hold them.
Led lights are also provided, I thought the door lights would be good enough but after temporarily taping them up with some painters tape and waiting for dark. Both me and my wife did like the LED lights. They plug into the harness. The plugs are very small with tiny pins so some strong reader glasses and good lighting helps when connecting the plugs. You don't want to force this. And you cant feel the pins go in the tiny holes and the plugs fit together very tight. I could see myself bending one of the tiny pins and having to cut the connectors off and install some more reasonable type of connector. I do have a fancy wire crimping tool. There are some small lines on the sides of the connectors to help line things up before carefully pushing them together. The flat spot that runs under the curve of the rocker is only about 5/8th inch wide but the flat back of the LED and the tape is 2x as wide. I used my own additional 3m double sticky tape and bent in an L shape and stuck to the overhanging LED and ran back up onto the inside wall of the rocker to help secure the LED lights.
They deploy very quietly but the brackets rattle a little when stowing. I only dinged my shin once so far. I was at the grocery store parking lot pulling the shopping cart close and getting my body in between the cart and the truck. Then I proceeded to open the door and the board hit shin bone! I don't think I'll do that again.
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