Westin PRO TRAXX Oval Nerf Bars - 5" - Polished Stainless Steel

Video Transcript for Westin PRO TRAXX Oval Nerf Bars Installation - 2024 Ram 1500

Hey guys, it's Jake here with etrailer. Today we have a 2024 Ram 1500 and we're gonna be taking a look at, and I'm gonna show you how to install the Westin PRO TRAXX Oval Nerf Bars. Adding these running boards to your truck is gonna allow you to get in and outta your truck easily. A lot of people will add running boards, for other people to get in and outta your truck. I know me personally, I don't need a set of running boards, because I can get in and outta my truck just fine. But a lot of people that ride with me need help getting in and out of the cab.

And this set is going to have a nice large footprint to be able to fit your foot on there comfortably, so that you can get in and out safely. (car door thuds) These running boards are gonna have a nice wide, five-inch foot plate that you can get your foot on. It'll have some grips on here so that if it's wet or snowy weather, if you got mud on your boots, you can still grip onto it so you don't slip off. The running board itself is gonna have an oval shape to it, which is gonna look very, very similar to a lot of factory running boards. It is a stainless steel chrome, so you don't have to worry about that rust and corrosion later on.

The chrome look is, it's kind of a niche thing, like if you really like chrome, these are gonna match all the other accents on your vehicle. But if you don't like chrome, Westin also has a satin black edition that you can add to your truck if you don't want the chrome option. Now, to compare these running boards to a lot of other running boards on the market that have maybe a four-inch pad or a three-inch pad, you can see the rocker panel here doesn't really cover a whole lot, maybe a quarter inch on the inside of the step. This is gonna give you a lot of usable space, 'cause after all, you're probably adding running boards so that you can use them not just for the aesthetics, but a lot of those smaller platform running boards will hang way underneath the truck, because the bracket tree for all of 'em are pretty much the same. So if you get a thinner running board, the brackets are gonna be further under.

So that'll put the running board about halfway under this rocker panel. And where that comes into play is if you go to step on it, you don't have a whole lot of usable space and your foot gets caught up under your truck and it's really, really difficult to use 'em with ease. With these, they're gonna be really, really wide. Another benefit to that is that when you're driving down the road, if you don't have mud flaps on your truck or anything like that, these are gonna provide a lot of protection to the side of your truck, just kind of by default when you're running into a rocky or muddy area, all that stuff is gonna hit the bottom of your running board, rather than getting slapped all over the side of your truck. Now that we've gone over some of those details, the installation is very, very easy on this truck.

It's got enough space underneath, you can lay under there and do this install. The other thing I like about this kit, which I have personally never seen on any running boards I've done before, is that the Ram 1500s come with factory studs for brackets. So whether you're using their their OEM system, or with an aftermarket set like this, all you have to do is slide the brackets over top of the studs and then put your hardware on the backside. A lot of times with running boards, with different vehicles, you have to run either run your own hardware inside of the sheet metal, or you have to run bolts into weld nuts. That nine times outta 10, will either have rust or paint on the inside of those weld nuts. And it is very, very difficult to get a set installed. But with these, it was very, very easy. So let's go ahead and pull the truck inside and show you how we did it. To begin our installation, we're going to be. To begin our installation, we're gonna have to start by assembling our brackets. You're gonna have some L brackets that look like this, and then all six of your brackets to actually hang your running boards are gonna look like this. You wanna take this bracket with this top piece, (bracket clinking) facing the bracket itself, and then we're gonna take our carriage bolt with the little square mark on it, and you'll wanna slide it in, make sure that it's flush on the outside. We're gonna hold that on there. We'll take a flat washer, (flat washer clinking) a lock washer, and then follow that up with the nut. We're gonna leave all of this hardware loose until we get it all assembled on the vehicle. That way, we can align our running boards correctly. When it comes to getting our brackets put up on our vehicle, the order that you're gonna wanna put 'em in, because the instructions are very confusing, is you'll want to start on the passenger side and put your D bracket on the back, the A bracket in the middle, and then your B bracket on the front. Now we can take our D bracket, (D bracket clanking) slide it over the studs, (D bracket clanking) and we're gonna take a flat washer, (bracket clanking) (flat washer clinking) (bracket clanking) a lock washer, (lock washer clinking) and then a nut. And these studs here on the bottom have a lot of paint on 'em. So when we go to tighten these down, we may have to run 'em down a little bit and then back 'em back off. But we're gonna repeat that same process on the remaining studs for this bracket and our other brackets. (bracket clanking) Now we can take our running board. Remember, you wanna leave all that hardware loose because that's what's gonna help us to get our running board lined up the way that we want it on our truck. So if you line up the bolt holes with our brackets, we'll take our button head bolts, they'll have an Allen head on 'em. We'll put the star washer on first, then our flat washer, they're both going to be black in color, so it's pretty easy to sort those out in your kit. (flat washer ratcheting) We'll thread these on on all three of our brackets. (flat washer ratcheting) Now that our running boards are in place, we can square our brackets up with the vehicle and then take a 13-millimeter socket and snug up this hardware. (electric drill ratcheting) (bracket clinking) (electric drill clanking) (electric drill ratcheting) And once you get those brackets tightened up, we need to level out our running boards themselves. And you want the running board pad to be level. What's typically worked best for me anytime I install a set of running boards is you can move the running board back and forth in these slots. And it's always worked best for me to pull 'em all the way to the outside of the bracket. That usually levels out the pad pretty good. Once you get it to where you want, we'll take a six-millimeter Allen key. You do get one in your kit, and I like to hand tighten these. Don't use a tool, because there's these factory nuts inside of the bar and you don't wanna twist those out. (Allen key ratcheting) And we'll come back with a torque wrench and torque all of our hardware to the specifications in the instructions. (torque wrench clanking) (torque wrench ratcheting) (car beeping) Last thing we need to do is take our plastic covers. You wanna slide those over top of our bracket here, (brackets clanking) and there's two different hole patterns that you can use. You can see there, you can either have a more recessed down here in the hole or further out like this. I like to use the further out position, because I think it looks better from up top, but you'll wanna take the small hex bolts that comes in your kit with a flat washer on it, (flat washer clanks) slide that through. And then on the other side, we'll follow it with another flat washer, and then the nylon lock nuts. Now when you're tightening these down, this can kinda move a little bit in these slotted holes. I like to pull 'em all the way up, so that they're as close as you can get 'em to the vehicle. And now we're gonna take a 10-millimeter wrench and a 10-millimeter socket and get these tightened down. (socket ratcheting) (brackets clanking) (socket ratcheting) Well, guys, once you get everything buttoned up, that's gonna do it for the installation. Hopefully, this video helped you decide whether or not the Westin PRO TRAXX Oval Nerf Bars all right for you in your 2024 Ram 1500.