Hoop steps not real rock rails?

[Mdozier]

Ordered the hoop step option not realizing they weren’t mounted to the same OEM rock rails. Is it worth changing to OEM rails that claim to be weight supporting? Are the OEM rails that much better? (Have access to some OEM for cheap.)
Or should I just wait and do aftermarket rails. Seems to be lots of great options out there.
Any advice is appreciated.

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[Layman]

I cannot speak for the hoop steps, but can tell you the OEM rails seem fairly beefy to me. I am sure their are other aftermarket options more robust than the OEM rails, but the OEM rails seem decent. If you can get them for a fair price, I would go ahead and pick those up. Install on those is easy. Half hour tops.

The way I look at it is you should be able to get the OEM rails fairly cheap in the secondary market. Not so much on the hoop steps. If you go to add those after the fact, I am sure it will be more than what Ford gets when adding it to the build. I say keep the hoop steps on order and pickup the set of OEM rails you found second hand.

I basically did the same with my Badlands. I got the OEM rock rails from the factory and found a next-to-new set of Outer Banks running boards and swapped them out so my wife could get in the car. I hated the running board on my side, so now I have the running board on the passenger side and the OEM rock rail on the drivers side, and no one know the difference. LOL.

 

[Shawn of the Dead]

OEM Hoop steps are pretty thin tubes and I doubt would take much force to bend them. They would offer a little protection I would think .... just not much. I took the steps off and left the tubes they mount to when I went out wheeling and they do not look very strong.

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