Possible trouble installing RSE power steps on 4xe

[Yawnie'sPapa]

Has anyone actually done it?
The physical part may be fine, but I may have run into an issue with wiring.
Harness is supposed to start near the 12v battery, run down along the top of the right frame rail to get to the doors and steps, across the top of the cross member, then up the left side to the doors and steps.

However, MAYBE I'm mistaken and this isn't the cross member they refer to, but sure looks like it - there's no way in heck to get a wiring harness fed over the top of the cross member, strapped in place, and fed from right frame rail to left frame rail. There's no extra harness length to choose a different route - and I've not found a different route although I ran out of time today to really look very hard at it.

This is the instruction for a JLU install -

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[Caliguy]

The cross member is the large one just forward of the rear axel kind of underneath the rear seats. It’s like a 4” wide cross member

 

[Yawnie'sPapa]

The cross member is the large one just forward of the rear axel kind of underneath the rear seats. It’s like a 4” wide cross member

I did get in a hurry and this was all I saw - them my wife called me in to take her to town for a while so it's very possible I was looking at it all wrong. So I need to look FARTHER BACK?
I messed up? That's what I was hoping to hear.
Thanks Gotta get this done before next week.

 

[Caliguy]

I did get in a hurry and this was all I saw - them my wife called me in to take her to town for a while so it's very possible I was looking at it all wrong. So I need to look FARTHER BACK?
I messed up? That's what I was hoping to hear.
Thanks Gotta get this done before next week.

Yea Youll see it, it lines up nicely with the floor drains in the rear seat area you have to use.

 

[Yawnie'sPapa]

Yea Youll see it, it lines up nicely with the floor drains in the rear seat area you have to use.

THANK YOU!
Makes sense, I hurried and didn't look around enough (and didn't really want to stop to leave for town)

 

[Yawnie'sPapa]

Well back to my original concern. I crawled under the whole 4xe this AM.
That is the one and only cross piece that goes from right to left frame rail besides the wider one that has the rear transmission mount (and that one is ahead of the transfer case and about 4" wide and you can't get across it)
That's it.
The one I pictured inn pictures above is the one right under the back of the front seats directly below the front door handles.
It's about where rear passengers would have their toes, and it's where the wires go up through the floor for these steps. So this is actually THE cross member. And no way to get over the battery skid plate. The shape even matches the instructions pictures from RSE - but it's covered in skid plates for the big batteries.

When I look behind that piece, looking toward the rear axle, all there is, is the driveshaft going back. There is nothing going side to side behind what I showed in the pictures.
This in the pictures is just below the front joint on the rear driveshaft.
Straight above it the rear of the transfer case.
To the rear, no other cross member.
So I am sort of screwed as far as going over.
Please keep in mind this is a 2023 Wrangler 4 door Rubicon 4xe. Very different from gas or diesel under there.

Here are pictures showing what's behind the one I pictured originally - no more cross members back there.......
Note the battery skid plate on the left side of the picture (right side of the 4xe). It goes from cross piece to the floor. No space between to run a cable.

The next thing on the frame is the lower control arms.......

So I guess back to the original question - has anyone actually installed or had installed RSE power steps on a Wrangler 4xe with the massive battery skid plate on the cross member, and how did they get the big cable from right side frame rail to left frame rail over this cross member, the one and only one on these....

This one is directly below the front door handles. It's about where your kid's toes would be if they were in the back seat.
Nothing behind this one. No other "cross members". Just drive shaft from this one on back.

 

[digimark]

I have them installed on my 4xe JLUR. My installer in Annapolis, MD had similar problems and they contacted RSE; there's a modified wiring harness for the 4xe we had to order in. If you contact RSE they will probably have the details.

EDIT: I recall now that there were pre-4xe gen 3 steps with one harness and then after-4xe with a longer harness. We had received the older set and that's why we needed the longer harness. If its new stock...

 

[Yawnie'sPapa]

Well, I'm screwed now and my put the Sahara steps back on it. There's no way in hell to get the correct harness here and installed before we leave next week. All this time getting things loose, oh, they'll fit, yes, they fit........so I figured, ok, they'll fit. Nope.

Not happy at all, especially after telling them twice it was a new 4xe.
I'm about ready to button it all back up with the MOPAR Sahara steps and forget it for now.
What a waste of hours. We are taking this Jeep to Florida and it MUST be done so it can be packed up by Wednesday. No way, now, no way.
My wife is going to be even more pissed as she was already wanting to make other plans for getting there - no, we'll have them on, the Jeep will be done, you'll have steps and be able to get in, no problem.

 

[digimark]

I know the harness problem must be frustrating, but I have to say the RSE steps were totally worth it to me. Solid, and MUCH easier to climb in/out when in place.

 

[danielhira]

For what it’s worth, I successfully installed the steps with whatever standard JLU harness they sent me about a year and a half ago, and I also confirmed with them that it would work with a 4xe and they said it’d work no problem. It was a very tight fit for sure for reaching the driver’s side from the passenger’s side, would have been much easier with another 12” of wire, but it did eventually reach for me.

That said, I did extend each of the door reed switch wires by 18-24” (cut, soldered, heatshrinked). That length was overkill, but I vaguely remember it having no chance of working without doing that and it worked fine with the added length.

edit: regarding the crossmember and how/where to send the main harness across, I remember trying to take pictures and it being impossible to get anything clear without raising the car up so unfortunately I can’t help there. I did use an industrial zip tie (~36” long, probably 3/8” wide) and taped the harness end to it to help push/pull the harness up and over/through some of those skid plates. It’s a pain, but it can work

 

[Yawnie'sPapa]

I know the harness problem must be frustrating, but I have to say the RSE steps were totally worth it to me. Solid, and MUCH easier to climb in/out when in place.

A friend came over and helped. He's got a 2018 JLU. We compared and compared and what the heck cross member are they talking about? We could see nothing under mine.
We both looked under his JLU. Then he looked again, crawling clear under the center and there, up next to the floor (bad description but basically that's it) and above the driveshaft was a "beam" going from top of the right frame rail to top of the left frame rail.
We found the same spot on my (ok, my wife's, let's make that clear) and there it was - obscured by battery coolant tubes and other fun stuff, but it was there - not plain as day, more like searching through 100 acres of jungle to find a single fly.
Jerry deserves pretty much all credit for that find. He doesn't give up easily.

A correction to their instructions - due to the changes they made to clear that new "bracket" on the right side to prevent the right front wheel from folding under in a crash - RSE modified the frame of their power steps - shortening them a bit to clear that piece, I note that I could have left the front bolt in place that holds the bottom of the fenders against the rocker pinch weld area.
And I tried and tried, but the wires for the front door sensors aren't going to reach. The harness could use some tweaking, especially where the sensor wires exit the main harness, giving them a bit more length.

Thanks, Jeep, for making really SURE the body can't come flying off the frame of these things and using absolutely permanent locking compound on the body bolts. I need to check with NASA and see if any of their space shuttle panel adhesive is missing - I know where to find it (Toledo, Ohio). they are using it on those left front body bolts just behind the left front wheel.
I was tempted to get my 3/4" drive set out I used to use on tractors.

For what it’s worth, I successfully installed the steps with whatever standard JLU harness they sent me about a year and a half ago, and I also confirmed with them that it would work with a 4xe and they said it’d work no problem. It was a very tight fit for sure for reaching the driver’s side from the passenger’s side, would have been much easier with another 12” of wire, but it did eventually reach for me.

That said, I did extend each of the door reed switch wires by 18-24” (cut, soldered, heatshrinked). That length was overkill, but I vaguely remember it having no chance of working without doing that and it worked fine with the added length.

edit: regarding the crossmember and how/where to send the main harness across, I remember trying to take pictures and it being impossible to get anything clear without raising the car up so unfortunately I can’t help there. I did use an industrial zip tie (~36” long, probably 3/8” wide) and taped the harness end to it to help push/pull the harness up and over/through some of those skid plates. It’s a pain, but it can work

Yes and yes.
I do plan on using some marine-type heat shrink and wire I use to make classic car harnesses, etc. and extending those about like you said - each is extremely tight, in my case, the fronts just don't quite reach. 3" might be enough to get there, but since it will be under carpet and behind trim, I'll add extra so I don't have stress on any wires and the trim will go back more easily.

Note - to remove the inner sill trim (sorry, as a car restorer, I view the rocker as being OUTSIDE, under the doors, and the sides or edges of the floor as being the sills) - you need to remove the left and right seat trim. Otherwise, you will never get that inside sill trim (what they call "pop the rockers off") loose.

Far from finished, but the harness hard part (other than the zip ties - and I'll likely run 10 times more than they would) is in place, and the steps secured well enough to do a quick test. I taped the magnets to the switched, connected things and let it do it's 'calibration" down, up, down, up.
Then I slid a magnet off a switch and the left side came down fine.

I still need to mess with getting the body bolts tightened up, torquing things proper, final nuts and bolts stuff, strap wires, lengthen the switch wires, put the switches and magnets in place and so on, but I can now demo and test them.

As said above - these things are rock solid. I even bounced on the top of one a bit and not a creak or moan out of them (I'm at 210 pounds so that was testing them fairly well)

I wasn't sure if the tops would be wide enough to step on getting in (fine, I'm 66, back problems, arthritis, you name it) but it worked. So I think I'm going to really like them on my Gladiator (when I finally eat something - been no food at all today) and get some strength back.

Thanks to all, especially those insisting yes, there IS a cross member up there........ but to all, really.

And a special thanks to Jerry. No way I could have lifted those thing in place with my back problems and my hands could have never made that fishing expedition between right and left frame rails with all that stuff up there.

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