I think you found the perfect mounting width, I like the look and that rear step looks like it will be functional. This side profile is beautiful - I think its the steelie/meaty rubber appeal!

 

I love the look, and the longer bars under a regular cab look good and will be really useful.

I did think of a concern for off-roading though. Those trucks REALLY flex, and I don't mean the suspension (which everyone knows doesn't). It wasn't that unusual for me to get my cab and bed trim lines off by 6" when I 'wheeled my '85 F-250. I don't know if the bars will just stiffen it and keep the frame straight (best case), or if they'l get tweaked when the frame flexes, or if they might bite the body (worst case).

You've pulled the sway bars which will help a lot I'm sure, and I don't think you're planning on any extreme 'wheeling. But still be a little careful on rough terrain.

 

Charles - Yep! Cream of the crop. .

Bryan - I kinda dig the look. Seems like it is ready for anything. And the step bars make it easier to get in and out, especially for my wife.

Bob - I don't plant to do any serious off-reading, but will watch for what you mentioned. However, the bars themselves aren't all that heavy, so probably don't have enough strength to stiffen things up a lot. But with 2 1/2" of clearance it would take a lot of twisting to make them hit. Actually, I thought they'd be more likely to protect the body rather than hurt it. I hope.

 

I think that's true. If a rock or tree stump is sticking up high enough the bar should provide a fair amount of protection against the rock or stump biting the sheetmetal.

The thing to watch for is if you are getting the truck really "crossed up" (diagonally opposite tires on high points with the other two tires low). That would flex the frame of my '85 F-250 (with sway bars in place) enough to get the bed and cab 6" out of alignment. If I'd had bars mounted 2.5" below the sheetmetal I'm not sure what would have happened. Obviously on the side that the bed was going low the back of the bar would be going low as well (same thing but opposite on the other side), so there might have been plenty of clearance. But with the front of the bar staying high I could see the front corner of the bed coming pretty close (or rear corner of the cab on the opposite side).

Still, without sway bars you'll get more suspension flex so the frame won't flex as much. And with the bars outboard of the sheetmetal (as well as 2.5" below) you've got quite a bit of clearance. I wouldn't sweat it too much, just keep it in mind the first few times you get it crossed up.

 

And, since the bars are mounted to the frame, if the frame twists the bars do. But, the bed does as well as it is solidly mounted to the frame.

And the cab is going to follow the frame quite a bit as its front mount is right beside the front mount of the bar - as you can see here. So, I'm hoping that even when crossed up the bars won't hit. But, it is something to watch.

 

Got the brackets for the passenger's side done today and the bars fully mounted. Pics below as I discovered that I had the passenger's side bar on the driver's side. As I bought them the lady mentioned, after I'd paid, that they were from a truck with a door on one side. Turns out the driver's side only has one step pad and the passenger's side has two. So, I put them where they were supposed to go. Then I called my wife out to try them, and she loves them.

Some day I'll pull the bars and brackets and powder coat or POR15 everything. But, for now they are done. And, just in time as our daughter and grandtwins come in next week, and I'm hoping to take them out in a friend's field and putt putt around. These will make it far easier for them to get into the truck.

 

Sweet, Gary... nice mount job too!

 

Thanks.

Forgot to say that I played around with the bars a bit today. There is a little bit of flex in the setup at the front of the bars when I jump on them, and I weigh about 190 fully dressed. So I layed under the truck and hung on the bar - and the flex I could see is the frame twisting slightly. The front mount is just behind the rear hanger for the front spring and just ahead of the transmission mount, and that section of the frame twists just slightly. And since the bar is about 18" outboard of the frame, any flex on the frame gets magnified.

But the rear mounts are solid. As said, they bolt to the front pivot bolt for the rear spring, and its bracket is substantial.

Speaking of the front pivot bolt, I don't know what gorilla put the nuts on, but my new HF Earthquake XT impact wouldn't take them off, and it is rated at 1000 ft-lbs. It took my longest break-over and everything I had to break them loose. But I put them back to spec - 200 ft-lbs.

 

You don't think being on there since 1985 had anything to do with it?

 

Lookin' good! Now all you need is some period correct grab handles to mount on the cab behind the doors!

 

Bill - Unless Ford used red polyurethane bushings I suspect the nuts have been off much more recently than 1985.

Bronco - I've never been a fan of the grab handles. Especially the one my father put on the dash for my mother. It wasn't even on straight.

 

The nerf bars look great Gary, nice job...as usual!

 

Thanks, Jim.

 

Great job Gary they look good and the back tread pad should be good to get to the tool box as well

 

Thanks, Oz. It worked out where the back pad is perfectly placed for the tool box.

I wonder if there is a need to document the brackets I made with CAD drawings. It would make adding those bars much easier to our trucks. But, since I don't exactly know what those bars are, maybe it would be for naught.