I thought I would share how I mounted my side steps with everybody.
As per normal, I've yet to buy something that said, "Bolt-on, no modification necessary", that was truly "bolt-on". These Bully Cast Aluminum Side Steps model AS-600 were suppose to fit my 1970 F250. Needless to say, they didn't. Somehow I'm not surprised, but I was lead to believe that all I needed to do was drill a few holes and tighten a few bolts.
I decided to install steps for my girlfriend, she's rather petite and has trouble jumping in. After looking at different steps and running boards I settled for the Bully Side Steps. I liked the look and the price.
There was some confusion as to which model I should order. Different online vendors had different lists as to what fit what. Pilot owns Bully and has a storefront/office in my city (Los Angeles). So I called Pilot, loosely thinking I might drive over and look around. Pilot told me that the AS-600 and one other model would fit my 70 F250. I decided against the drive across town because I wouldn't save anything by going direct, and the drive was much to far to "just be fun".
I found an eBay vendor selling a damaged box for less than half the going rate. Figuring only the box was damaged and the steps were fine, I ordered them. They arrived a week later and just as I had suspected, the steps were undamaged.
Upon inspection of the mounting location, I found that the steps did not drop into the C-channel and the hardware that was included was not the correct size/shape to account for this. I considered making a 9/16 inch spacer to fill in the C-channel and even made one out of wood to see how it fit. But I decided that trimming the step mount would be best in the end.
I keep a few empty cereal boxes around to make templates and patterns out of, and this called for a box of cereal, Apple Jacks to be specific. I made a template shaped and sized like the side of the step mount and then altered the cardboard template to fit in the trucks C-channel. Then I used the cardboard template to trace the new shape onto all four sides of the step mounts.
The aluminum steps cut easy with a hacksaw. I finished shaping them to the outline with a belt & disk sander. I could have used a file, but this was quicker. The steps fit pretty good and I didn't have much adjustment to do. I did use a file for this final fitment though.
The pictures don't show it, but I only used one bolt per each mount. That's two bolts per each step. The channel is two sheets of 1/8 inch metal spot welded together. The outer stamping has a bulge where I would have wanted to put a second bolt. The one bolt is near the bottom of the mounting tab. The only force on the bolt is tinsel strength. Stepping on the step tries to stretch the bolt. The step mount is locked into the channel, the truck channel supports the vertical load completely. The top of the step mount pushes against the top of the channel.
I used the bolts that came with the steps, but I will replace them in a few days. These are 5/16 grade 3 bolts. One snapped before I thought it was tight. I'll probably use stainless here.
I put my full weight (200 pounds) on them and flexed up & down (not jump). Nothing broke or bent. My lady is half (less than) my weight and couldn't break them if she tried.
