New running boards!




A different angle....



I've had these in the works for several months now. I've had the "boards" made for quite some time, but needed to build mounts. We finally got back to them this week! The mounts go back to the frame, and also are attached to the body. They are mounted pretty stout!

I still need to paint them - probably black - MIGHT even have them powder coated, since an Amish friend of mine takes several things in to have it done, and gets a good price. I have a few other ideas to do with them, but that will be later.....


How do they look?

 

Nice....I like them....too bad they aren't available commercially....

 

I like the open drainage and boot scraping aspects of your running boards.

Can you figure out a way to mount them JUST to the frame, OR in the alternative, JUST to the body?

Ford thinks it is a bad idea to mount running boards to the frame AND the body, and says so in their body builder manuals that are issued to second unit body upfitters like ambulance outfitters and vocational equipment installers. The problem, Ford states, is that the body and the frame are isolated by flexible mounts (rubber donuts) that permit the frame and body to flex in separate patterns at different rates.

Some popular videos on youtube illustrate this, where the open C channel frame Super Duty is pitted against the fully boxed channel frames of comparable class Ram and Chevy equivalents on a twist ditch apparatus. These videos show quite vividly how much the Ford frame flexes, and how much distortion the flexible frame can impart on the relative positions of the body assemblies.

If you attach your stiff steel running boards to both the frame AND the body, then when you turn up into a pitched driveway from a road that has a steep crown and a deep gutter for runoff, you will in effect be putting your truck thru the same type of twist ditch gymnastics, and something will have to give. And it won't be your running boards, judging by how sturdy they are built.

More than likely, the body sheet metal you are attaching your running boards to will start to fatigue, distort, and or eventually tear or crack. As long as you mount your running boards to ONLY the body, this will not happen, as there is no movement differential in the body alone. The difference in movement is between the frame and the body... so if you connect what amounts to a stiff truss that ties the frame and body together, and that does not allow for movement like the rubber body pucks do, you are asking for future problems.

Observe any OEM installation of nerf bars and running boards. In every case, these structures are either attached to the body alone (most common and universal in on road production), or the frame alone (off road accessories for Jeeps and the like). Never to both simultaneously.

Those are some very cool boot scraping, snow draining running boards you made.

 

^^ This ^^

Nice fabrication though!

 

I was very leery of using a body mount especially only a 2 place body mount on a crew cab like I have, but They turned out really sturdy and mine are cheap eBay running boards. Your's look really nice