Aries Oval Nerf Bars - 4" Wide - Black Powder Coated Steel

Video Transcript for Aries Oval Nerf Bars Installation - 2012 GMC Sierra

Hey everybody, Ryan here at etrailer. Today on our 2012 GMC Sierra 1500, we're gonna be showing you how to install the Aries Oval tube steps. These ones are polished stainless steel but they're also available in a black powder code, if you find you like that style a little bit better. But before we jump in and install, let's take a minute, check these out and make sure they're gonna work for you. This set is going to kind of remind me of just your classic tube steps, you know, at least that's what I think of when I hear that word. They look decent and probably the first thing that I noticed is they're definitely gonna be functional, all right So they come out quite a ways, you know, they're not sticking way out to where they look funny or anything, but they're definitely gonna give you a good footing when you go to get in and outta the truck, which, with something like this, it's probably most important, right So you open up that door you got quite a bit of space there, you know, to get your foot on and get yourself a good grip while you're getting in and out of your truck.

As far as the appearance goes, you know, to me they don't really stand out, you know. In my opinion, they're not gonna make or break the truck by any means, you know, they're kind of a good mix of functionality and not really being too noticeable. So, if that's what you're looking for, excellent, you know. If you're wanting something more for aesthetics, there's tons of other different, you know, styles or running boards and, and nerf bars out there. Personally, the ones that I like for aesthetics are more the running board type.

They sit up a little bit higher and tighter but you lose some of that functionality. So it's just gonna depend on what you're going for there. Like I said, these are polished stainless so they should hold up pretty well, you know, long term in inclement weather and, you know, salty roads in the wintertime and things like that. The powder coated black ones, you know, might be better for you if you live in a dryer environment or, you know, something like that or if you just like the looks of 'em better. It's really just gonna depend on what you're trying to go with and what you think matches your truck the best.

Speaking on the longevity, one thing I did notice that should really help out a lot is that the whole tube is actually sealed. So the end caps here are all sealed. There's really no openings, you know, with exception of where you put your bolts to bolt these on and when you do that it's gonna be sealed up. So that should help out a lot. I know I've seen, you know, some older trucks come in and a lot of times these'll rot from the inside out from mud and stuff getting thrown up inside of the tube.

So having everything closed should definitely help out with the lifespan of these. When it comes to these nerf bars or tube steps, whatever you want to call 'em the majority of 'em kind of fall in between that three to five inch diameter, so how wide they're gonna be. These are right in the middle. You kind of get that good happy medium of looks and functionality. So these are gonna have a four inch wide footplate, I guess you could call it here and it's flat and does have some tread marks in there too, to, you know, be able to get that sure footing you're looking for. Something I do wanna mention too because I feel like this happens quite often so these are gonna be custom fit to your truck, right And whether you have an extended cab, a crew cab, a regular cab, that information is gonna matter. So if you end up deciding to go with these, make sure to use our dropdown menu, our fit guide and, you know, enter in the right information because, you know, if you have a crew cab and get, you know, extended cab boards, it's probably not gonna work. So just wanted to mention that, that way you make sure you get what you need, get the right stuff the first time. But other than that, at the end of the day, I mean a good all around set of nerf bars, you know. They look decent, functionality is great, they fit pretty good, you know, the brackets are custom fit so really can't ask for too much more. As far as installation goes, really not too bad at all. Everything kind of just bolts up to be honest with ya. So hopefully our video here will get you going in the right direction and make it even easier on you. But if you'd like to see how that's done, feel free to hang around. We'll go ahead and I'll put these on together now. To begin our installation, we're gonna be here on, starting on the driver's side of our truck and we're gonna be mounting up our brackets, which on the driver's side, it'll be all this style of bracket. We're gonna have three mounting locations, one towards the front, one more in the middle and then one closer to the back of the truck. But we'll go ahead and start with the one up here towards the front. So we're gonna be using this tab here and then there's a hole in our frame but there's a rubber plug there, you're gonna pop that rubber plug out. And some trucks might have a factory weld nut in there. If it does, you know, you can just use that. If it doesn't, you can take one of these clips that they give you, work that in like that. Then you're also gonna put one of the clips like so. And then you take your bracket and this is gonna sit up there like this. All right, so you're gonna use a bolt and then put on a split lock washer and then a flat washer and just get these started hand tight. So I went ahead and got our second and third bracket mounted up the exact same way that we did the front one. Second one is just gonna be located, you see this big body mount, it's gonna be located just in front of that. And then the third one, that's gonna be located right here. So kind of right where the floor of our truck kind of starts to bend a little bit, that's where that's gonna be mounted up. But with this side complete, we can now move over to our passenger side. The passenger side, I got a couple of our brackets going. The one in the very back is gonna be identical to the ones that we did on the driver's side. However, the one in the middle and the very front one are gonna be a little bit different style. So we'll walk you through and show you how to do this type now. So again, we'll use those pieces that kind of snap in there and then we'll have this bracket which you'll line up and with these you're gonna take your bolt, your split lock washer, and your flat washer. And my mistake there, I grabbed the wrong size one 'cause you get some bigger ones and some thinner ones, you can use the thinner ones there. So I'll just thread right in. And then this well nut up top here, that's gonna line up with the hole in our pinch weld and line up with the hole on this other part of the bracket. And with these you use a little bit thicker bolts with the split lock washer and flat washer. And that's just gonna run up and thread in. So you'll do the same exact setup, you know, for that bracket in the middle and then like we talked about, the one in the very back will be the same deal as the driver's side. Moving back to the other side here, we can grab our step and with these they are gonna be side specific so, you know, make sure you have the right one and to be able to tell that there's some threaded well nuts in the bottom of steps, so it should line up with the holes in our bracket. So from here on out, you know, anything we do to one side we'll do to the other, it'll be essentially the same. We'll carefully set that up there and line 'em up. And then you're gonna take the thicker bolts, put on a split lock washer and a flat washer. You'll have two per bracket and we'll just get all of these started hand tight. With everything in place and hand tight we can start to snug everything up. So I like to start with the ones on the bottom first. You know, beginning in the middle here, working your way out and we'll use a 13 millimeter socket. (tool whirring) Through the middle, then the sides. (tool whirring) And then when we're done with that, we'll come back and do the same technique to do our bolts up at the top. (tool whirring) What you can do now is tighten down the step to the brackets and this is kind of just personal preference, you know, if you want to tilt it downward some or inward, whatever the case may be. I'm just gonna use this small level here to get it square. That way each side can kind of match up and we'll come through with a 16 millimeter and just snug up all the hardware, holding the brackets to the step, again, starting from the middle, working our way out here. (tool whirring) Once you're happy with everything, you can come back with a torque wrench and tighten down all the hardware to the amount specified in the instructions. (tool beeping) And that'll finish up our look at and our installation of the Aries Oval tube steps on our 2012 GMC Sierra 1500.