How To Lower The Running Boards

Trucks aren’t the shortest of vehicles out there, and because of this reason, many people may find it fairly difficult to simply get in or out of them.

This can apply to older folks, kids, shorter individuals, you get the point, and i am not even talking about the struggle for those with lifted pickups.

To combat the issue, running boards are here, though it’s not always as simple as this.

Ironically, many of them which come stock with the pickup truck from the factory (or installed aftermarket) may sit rather too high or snug which kind of ruins the point why you would need them in the first place.

Thankfully it does not have to be this way forever, as there is actually a thing you can do to lower the running boards to your desired position (if you do off-road, this can end up being a bad idea, so keep that in mind).

Modify the brackets

Lowering the running boards by how many inches you want is as simple as fabricating the brackets they already come with.

Now you can obviously try adding some spacers and then using longer bolts to lower them instead, or even drilling new mounting holes in the truck itself, but whether or not this route will work entirely depends on what kind of vehicle and boards you have, as all of them, more or less, mount differently.

The reason why i think modifying the brackets you already have is a better idea is because this should work for more people than not, or in short, is more universal.

Anyways, for it to work you need to get the mounting brackets cut in half, and then weld an extension piece of the size you want, to make the whole unit longer. You probably won’t have the tools to do the job, so contacting a welding shop is probably the best idea.

If there was a way, i would obviously rather buy already made longer brackets and not do any of that, though this option isn’t always available for all of the running boards out there on the market, probably yours too.

Replace them

If you don’t care about getting rid of the running boards you already have, purchasing a new pair might be just the thing you should go for.

All sorts of models exist for different levels of drop to fit your particular instance, except the most optimal way, if you have a grand or so to spend, is by getting powered ones, such as the AMP Research.

They work exceptionally well for those owners who have lifted pickups, but again, do you want to spend more than an extra 1000$ just so you could have an easier time getting into the thing? I will leave that to you.

Reasons why running boards are great to have on a pickup truck

These things are one of those accessories which serve more than one purpose, with you probably not even knowing much about that.

One of them is debris protection. What i mean by that is that the boards prevent a lot of the crud, mud or even rocks from hitting the upper part of your truck, and that is only a good thing if you ask me.

Door dings. Any parked car which would have its doors opened too close to your pickup won’t be able to touch the actual body, as there is now an appendage sticking out of it.

Prolongs the seat life. When you don’t have a platform to support your feet out of a tall vehicle, you tend to slide down the seat to mitigate the impact – sadly this degrades the quality of the seat quicker, and obviously having a board which you can brace upon when climbing out solves the issue.

Makes it easy to access the bed. Truth be told, this depends on how long the running board is, but if yours runs along the majority of the truck’s length, chances are you will be able to step on it to reach in the bed, and we all know how that can be important.