I find myself wanting to grab the steering wheel getting in and I don't want to make that a habit. Were our trucks offered a grab handle on the driver side? If not, has anyone added one?

 

Yea they came with them on the a pillar mine has it. Someone that a gauge pod on the a pillar probably has one laying around.

 

Thanks for the info.


So, anyone have one to sell?

 

I had never seen one that had a handle on the driver's side. Mine just has one on the passenger's side. I assumed they were all like that.

 

I've yet to see one either but apparently they are out there.

 

My '03 had both sides but the 2000 only had passenger side. I bought one from a junk yard and went to change it out but there were no bolt holes and it looked like it wasn't a direct fit anyway. Thought about trying to drill and tap my own holes but the way the windshield post was I couldn't get a drill in there.

 

My '07 has one on the drivers side A pillar.

 

I don't believe they were available until the 2003 MY.

 

I have it on both side of my 03, they're great. If you can't get a pillar bar to mount you may want to think about a running board or a step up bar for easier access.

 

Even with a running board, you still need somewhere to hold on for balance. Even though I have a grab handle, I tend to use the door for support. A habit I am continually trying to break, as I really don't want the door to start sagging on it's hinges at some point.

 

I usually just grab the windshield/pillar when getting in. Getting out is the hard part for my wife. Even with cab steps and a grab handle she just slides out and misses the step all together.

 

I was able to install a passenger grab handle on the driver side with some work. I made a strip of aluminum and riveted nutplates. Then drilled holes in a-pillar. I carefully sketched cutouts on the driver pillar plastic and cut those out. Then mounted. Looks factory. Very useful for me when getting in and out.

Driver grab handle custom install

 

Guess I should've updated this. Last summer I pulled some parts off of a truck being parted and got the grab handle and pillar trim. When I pulled the A pillar trim off of my 2001 the holes and and nuts were already there from the factory. Made installing the handle super easy but made me wonder why they waited until the 2003 model year to add them.

 

What year was the donor truck?

Did it have the short handle or the long handle?

The factory square nuts that are tacked into the A pillar stampings have two different on center distances, depending on the year of the truck. The change over to the longer on center distance was in Model Year 2002. The Kentucky Truck Plant was building them this way in late 2001 (longer handle, both posts prepped, for 02 model year). I saw this personally, at KTP. I have no idea when the Caitilan plant changed over. I could be mistaken, but initially only the Platinum edition had dual handles. At that time, the Platinum edition was only available in the Texas region. By 2003, all trucks had the dual, longer handles.

What really makes me curious about your install is if your truck started out with a shorter handle, like the photo posted by kwise22tsi above, and you found square nuts already in place in the driver's side A pillar stamping at that shorter on center distance!

Can you post a photo of your handles? I can tell by the contour of the handles what generation they are from.

 

Interesting topic. I would like to do this also.

My 2001 was built in Mexico though, so I have no idea if bolts are under my pillar.

Anyone know the answer.
my production date was 03/01