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Anyone install the Rock Slide Engineering drop down steps?

BobK

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I have the RSE electronic drop down steps/sliders on order and cannot wait until they arrive. I also have a Mopar 2 inch lift kit being delivered the beginning of next week and a set of 37" BFG K02's begging to be mounted in my garage.

However, I have a 5'1" wife who just yesterday asked in desperation "when are you getting those damn steps?" so the lift and the 37's are on hold until the step arrive and are installed.

With all that as background, my question is - Has anyone received their RSE drop down steps and installed them yet? How difficult was the interior wiring? Are the magnetic switches visible at each door? and finally, I know there is a kill switch that gets mounted, did you connect it to one of the Aux switches instead of using the supplied switch?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Bob
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thecritter

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How did the install go mine are being delivered today anything to look out for?
 
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BobK

BobK

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The install is relatively straight forward. You will need a helper to help you lift each side step and insert it into the brackets that you will have loosely installed and into the pinch seam existing holes. In my case, one or two holes on each side had to be drilled out a bit so that the pin on the step fit all the way in.

I did the install over two days. The first day was to install the brackets and the steps, with the help of my adult son. That took about an hour or slightly more. I have an impact wrench, so getting the body mounts bolts loose was a piece of cake, but the one bolt on each side has a washer that does not move and wouldn't spread far enough to allow the step bracket to fit. I had to remove the bolt and washer and file the top of the threads to allow the washer to slide down enough to allow the step bracket to fit, that took more time than anything else.

The next day I did the wiring on my own and it was far easier than I expected. Getting the wires through the firewall is a piece of cake too, once you find the plastic plug from under the drivers side firewall (inside) and it just popped out. I laid the wires out inside the Jeep and then pulled them under the carpet and removed the interior plastic panels to get access, it was a bit scary but everything went back into place easy enough.

I used blue painters tape to mark the doors to located the magnets that make the sensor realize the door is shut, they lined up easily and correct the first time.

PM me with any further questions. Glad to help
 

Fire Burns

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This is great info. I'm looking at 38"s and a 3.5" lift. My wife already has a hard time with just a stock Rubicon. Basically, I have no choice but to buy the RSEs. I really don't like the type of steps that just stick out all the time as you really can't do any serious off-roading with them. The RSEs fill a niche - albeit and expensive one!
 
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BobK

BobK

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I carry the RSE in my store the4x4guys.com. You won't see them in there right now as RSE has a problem with some of their images.

I sell them for the same price as everyone else (RSE minimum) but don't charge for shipping. I am also a sponsor of this forum The 4x4 Guys. If you are interested in buying them from us, you can email me at [email protected] and I can setup an account and a draft order for you.

Thanks

Bob

Ps. I'll answer any of your questions about these regardless of where you buy them, I'm here to help where I can.
 

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My experience was very similar to BobK's. I took 2 days as well, 1 for the mounting and 1 for the wiring. I only required help for a few minutes when lifting the assemblies into place the rest I did alone. In all probably 4 hours. As I recall I only hurt myself once and I think I only took the lords name in vain twice!!
 
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BobK

BobK

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Four hours sounds about right and you are right about the brief time that help is needed. Each step must weigh 80 pounds or so, and "gliding" it into the pinch seam holes is a bit of trick if you don't want to scratch your paint. It was when we realized that we could not fully insert the step that we realized that a pinch seam hole on each side was slight off round and needed to be drilled out. Had I realized that at the start, I would have drilled it out ahead of time.

I put a cheap Harbor Freight moving blanket on the garage floor alongside the Jeep so that I could lay the step out and lay it down while drilling and not scratch it before I take it out for the first offroad adventure that will scrape it.....LOL

The wiring was easier than I expected, especially getting the wires through the firewall. The part that was hard to understand from their pictures was the two "drain plugs" on the rear seats, near each side to drop the wires for the step motors and lights. On my black Jeep, these plugs were glued in and painted black, I barely could see them. I realized which plugs it was from looking underneath the Jeep. Luckily with the lift and 37" tires, I could roll under the Jeep without having to jack it up. Once I saw them, they were easily pried up with a screwdriver. I was unhappy leaving that big of a hole in the underside of my Jeep open, so I used a small hand saw to cut a slot in them and put them back in the hole to cover most of it.

The other "gotcha" on the wiring was having to slightly enlarge the hole for the wiring connector. I just used a file to open it up wide enough to allow the wiring connector to fit. Then zip tied the control box to the underside of the rear passenger seat cushion.
 
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BobK

BobK

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Also, I just looked them up in my store data. www.the4x4guys.com

Rock Slide Engineering sku: BD-SS-200-JL4 are $1,799.99 and the LED light kit sku: SL-LK-LED are $69.99 with Free Shipping.

Thanks

BobK also The4x4Guys . PM me for more info.
 

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I just installed these over the weekend. As others, I took two days. One to install and the other to wire and trouble shoot.
Installation was a breeze. Old rock sliders from my Rubicon came off in 10 minutes. After double checking all the hardware was there, I too laid out a u-haul blanket on either side so not to scratch them, but also to keep me insulated from the cold concrete....After install, I started wiring and it was fairly easy. Here are my issues:

The Front switch bracket is nice, but too close to the ODB port, and if you remove your doors, will likely interfere with the door wire harness connector. In the process of trying to remove the kick panel and door wire harness connector for easier access, I broke the harness connector away from the vehicle. Not too bad as it's no longer secure to the side wall, but still a pain if you want to remove doors often.

I also found that the wires to the cut-off switch only have a lead of about 2 inches before they are all heat-shrinked together. It would have helpd to have a little more wire loose in order to secure them to the switch one by one. I followed instructions, which states to pull them all thru the bracket, secure to switch, then install switch to bracket, but when I put the trim piece back on, it easily grabbed the power wires and pushed then off the switch. didn't realize this until I powered up and only one step actuator was working.

I would have preferred a longer lead on the step actuators so the wiring went into the cab. Instead, there is only 8 inches or so or lead wires coming off the actuator, not enough to even reach the thru plug. But either way, it's best if you have a Molex Pin Extractor. Go get one and save your self some aggravation of having to waller out the thru hole in the floor.

And if you do extract the pins like I did, make sure to put them back the right way. The passenger side wires (BLK/RED) are pinned opposite of the Actuator wires. So instead of black to black, red to red.....It's Black to Red, and Red to Black on the passenger side. A better wire diagram from RSE would be helpful, but when my step was UP with the door open, and DOWN with the door closed.....I realized what I had done.

Lastly, If you get the LED kit.....don't wait till everything is complete to install them. Do it while the Steps are off the vehicle.
 

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If you take the doors of the steps arent functional since the magnets wouldnt close the sensor switches on the pillars, correct?
 

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If you take the doors of the steps arent functional since the magnets wouldnt close the sensor switches on the pillars, correct?
Normal operation no, but can still be functional. I used additional very strong rare earth magnets stick them to the door fame when doors are off.
 

Fire Burns

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Just ordered my RSE (thanks @BobK). I'll be sure to post my thoughts after I install. Keep the tips coming guys!
 
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BobK

BobK

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If you take the doors of the steps arent functional since the magnets wouldnt close the sensor switches on the pillars, correct?
The full install includes in the wiring harness a switch that installs adjacent to the OBD port. The switch allows you to "turn off" the steps so that they don't deploy. Very useful for offroading, where you want to open the door to see around you but don't want the steps to deploy. Also useful for driving with the doors off.

Bob
 

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The full install includes in the wiring harness a switch that installs adjacent to the OBD port. The switch allows you to "turn off" the steps so that they don't deploy. Very useful for offroading, where you want to open the door to see around you but don't want the steps to deploy. Also useful for driving with the doors off.

Bob
YES, now lets say you have the doors off but want the step? Step wont deploy, right?
 
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BobK

BobK

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YES, now lets say you have the doors off but want the step? Step wont deploy, right?
You could flip the switch and have both sides deploy (since there are no magnets present (the unit would think all doors were open) or as a previous poster suggested (and I do) I carry several small rare earth magnets that I could place over the sensor to make it think doors were present and then take the magnet off to make it think the door opened.

Then again, I'm not sure there is a perfect solution for every permutation of doors off/doors on, wanted steps to deploy or not deploy, but there are work around.

https://the4x4guys.com/product/rock-slide-engineering-jl-4d-step-sliders/ ($1799.99 free shipping)
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