Rock Slide Engineering install question

[Dirty Bronco]

I have had issues with my steps so I’ve had practice removing and reinstalling stuff. Had my passenger side off 3 times again since I’ve installed it.
The wiring harness will allow the positive and negative to reach the battery (I discovered the 2nd time running it). Start at the drivers side plugs in the step and work out from there. Will provide plenty of slack. As mentioned routing the harness over the gas tank may be the hardest part.
The red light on the switch is not needed. The yellow wire provides power for the light. If you don’t want a lighted switch simply unplug the yellow wire (and seal it as it still is a hot wire).
The boxes the steps ship in are the greatest install help. I’ve had these steps on and off every time myself with no jack by using the boxes.

The body mount brackets are tight to get on. A few whacks with the sand hammer did the trick.
The whole magnet door sensor system is very finicky. Drivers side has always worked fine. Passenger side needed bigger magnets and stacked tape (to move magnet closer to sensor) to work properly.
Speaking of the drivers side step always working, it has. The passenger side has been an entirely different story. First I was shipped 3 passenger side steps before I was ever correctly shipped a drivers side. Then it turns out the circuit board was bad in all 3 steps. They finally sent me a working one and were helpful troubleshooting over the phone, but seems as if there are some quality control issues. There have been at least 3 iterations of the circuit boards for the bronco steps so far. Hopefully no more are needed. The install is easy, but switching out a circuit board is a pain to remove the whole step.

This is not what I wanted to hear before I tackle the instal later this week. Regardless, THANK YOU for sharing your details and experience. Much appreciated.

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[Happy]

Maybe being one of the last on the 1st round of group buy will pay off in getting a great working set. I would not mind getting 3 passenger steps if we get at least 1 driver side. That is pretty goofy.
Thank for all the tips.

 

[Murph56789]

Yea, you’ll probably get a better product not being towards the front of the line. The extra steps were good for instant trouble shooting even though they were also broken. Just sucked waiting for packages from Utah over and over.. Really delayed getting them installed.

 

[Dirty Bronco]

Yea, you’ll probably get a better product not being towards the front of the line. The extra steps were good for instant trouble shooting even though they were also broken. Just sucked waiting for packages from Utah over and over.. Really delayed getting them installed.

The circuit board being bad is concerning to me. Shouldn't the circuit board on these be the same as the ones on the Jeeps? They have had the Jeep ones in productions for quite some time. If anything I figured the only thing that is changing is some of the hardware to make it fit the Bronco.

 

[Happy]

Waiting in hope! Hope they have all the chips, all the parts and all the bugs ironed out.
And the big one....hoping ours get here soon.

 

[Yukon65006]

Yea, you’ll probably get a better product not being towards the front of the line. The extra steps were good for instant trouble shooting even though they were also broken. Just sucked waiting for packages from Utah over and over.. Really delayed getting them installed.

Pretty sure that 1st sentence applies to the most everything including the Bronco. Just look at the blown engine thread.

Planning on installing mine this weekend as long as the new grommets arrive before then. Guess I open the box back up to see if I have a right and left step now.

 

[Murph56789]

The circuit board being bad is concerning to me. Shouldn't the circuit board on these be the same as the ones on the Jeeps? They have had the Jeep ones in productions for quite some time. If anything I figured the only thing that is changing is some of the hardware to make it fit the Bronco.

That’s what I was wondering. But the jeep has seen multiple updates on the step and circuit board.
What I was told about the bronco circuit board is they had it produced by somewhere and weren’t happy with the quality. Then they moved onto another manufacturer (not sure if that’s in house or not). That version is what is my drivers side step and the 3 bad passenger ones are. When they had issues with that one they said some changes were made to the circuit board. That new version started shipping with some of the steps in early December. The new circuit board looks identical to the other ones but it has a sticker on it with the rse name and made in the USA. That has me wondering if the old ones were made in China or something. Either way, hope the new ones work. Pretty done with messing with these things.

 

[mds5917]

I have had issues with my steps so I’ve had practice removing and reinstalling stuff. Had my passenger side off 3 times again since I’ve installed it.
The wiring harness will allow the positive and negative to reach the battery (I discovered the 2nd time running it). Start at the drivers side plugs in the step and work out from there. Will provide plenty of slack. As mentioned routing the harness over the gas tank may be the hardest part.
The red light on the switch is not needed. The yellow wire provides power for the light. If you don’t want a lighted switch simply unplug the yellow wire (and seal it as it still is a hot wire).
The boxes the steps ship in are the greatest install help. I’ve had these steps on and off every time myself with no jack by using the boxes.

The body mount brackets are tight to get on. A few whacks with the sand hammer did the trick.
The whole magnet door sensor system is very finicky. Drivers side has always worked fine. Passenger side needed bigger magnets and stacked tape (to move magnet closer to sensor) to work properly.
Speaking of the drivers side step always working, it has. The passenger side has been an entirely different story. First I was shipped 3 passenger side steps before I was ever correctly shipped a drivers side. Then it turns out the circuit board was bad in all 3 steps. They finally sent me a working one and were helpful troubleshooting over the phone, but seems as if there are some quality control issues. There have been at least 3 iterations of the circuit boards for the bronco steps so far. Hopefully no more are needed. The install is easy, but switching out a circuit board is a pain to remove the whole step.

Great move with the boxes - I plan use a similar setup, and then a floor jack balanced in the middle to raise them up into place for fastening. Sounds like you have had to endure a lot of product issues - thanks for taking those bruises for the rest of us (hopefully ironed out by now).

 

[Raskew]

I had mine installed about 3 weeks ago. One side would occasionally get stuck in the down position. I had my installer replace the tiny magnets that go on each of the doors with some much longer magnets. That seems to have solved the problem. Been working great for the last couple of weeks.

Here’s what I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L3FVFFZ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

The installer also used some kind of adhesive to encourage the magnets to not shift or move around. He tried that with the stock magnets (before we switched to the longer magnets) but it was still misbehaving. The combination of longer magnets and adhesive seems to have addressed all the issues.

Do you know what adhesive he used?

 

[TRMFAM]

A couple of things...
I also connected both pos and neg to the battery and zero issues with wire length.

I had factory rock rails and did not understand that yes, you remove all brackets!

I removed the pad from my floor jack (it just slides in / out) and I had a scrap 2X6 about 3' ish long and I drilled a hole in it and put a carriage bolt through and drilled a hole in a scrap 2X4 6" ish long and put it under the jack securing the 2X6 to the top where the pad would be. It was perfect for setting the step on and moving in / out and up / down by myself.

I was hung up for embarrassingly too long on the body mount brackets as in which is which...neither has a curve like the pic IMO, but I figured out really quick that the rear one will NOT go on the front so don't sweat it!

Same as above, at first the body mount brackets would not go in and a few taps with dead blow hammer freed it up where you could adjust by hand.

I probably did something wrong but I did not have any issues getting the harness to the passenger side? I just ran it along the top of cross member and there is a spot between the pass frame that I could see the wire through and reach up from outside the frame and pull it the rest of the way. Just lucky and didn't realize it!

The driver side wire routing to the switch I ran it under the left kick panel and pulled the speaker grill off there and was able to easily route it that way vs trying to get it to slide under the dead pedal.

I did not get the magnet / sensor alignment on the first, second, third or 10th try...man, I really struggled with that. I moved the sensors enough the tape would no longer hold and you would close the door and hear "snap" and that was the magnet detaching from the door and attaching to the body! I replaced with 3M emblem tape and seems like the same stuff and still holding strong 5 days later. I realized I was placing the sensors way to high...the bottoms are just about even with the bottom curve of the door.

I also spent an embarrassingly to long of time with the pinch bolts...so you install all the brackets, then you slide the step into place and the studs on the step go through the pinch weld holes...bolt in place and it is held on until you can connect all the brackets. Pay attention, the pinch studs are two different sizes! LOL...I just kept, why won't this dang nut go on...then finally contorted enough to see it and was like OH...and went and checked the other step still in the box and realized that's what that extra pack of washers and nuts is for.

My last aha came the day after...I am vertically challenged and must step pretty close to the Bronco to get in and whamo the step came down and smacked me in the shin! Only did that once...you will remember it.

I installed by myself.

 

[Happy]

Thank you, very helpful.

 

[ipongtreat]

Do you know what adhesive he used?

I will try to find out. Getting the ARB compressor installed at the same place this Friday. I’ll let you know.

 

[Raskew]

I will try to find out. Getting the ARB compressor installed at the same place this Friday. I’ll let you know.

Thanks

 

[mds5917]

Love my RSEs, but one quirk I needed to change - the REALLY bright red light. I know that you can disconnect the yellow wire to kill the light, but I do like having a reminder about the switch status, so I ordered a switch with a small blue LED indicator (blends in and is much less obtrusive).

As you can see, a big difference. The blue is getting "washed out" to white as the phone went to night mode because it was so dim - it really does look blue, just like it is lighting up around it.

$7 from Amazon for three (a little insurance if it fails).

 

[rtaylor]

A few more tips.

1) Do yourself a favor and remove the surface trim piece and loosen the nuts a little with a 10mm deep socket instead of trying to force the harness under the footrest.

2) A tranny jack makes solo install easy.

3) As mentioned, if your washer is locked to body bolt, REMOVE the bolt entirely, press off the washer, and grind off the retention threads. Don't try to remove the washer when on vehicle or you will ruin your body mount.

4) Wrap the exposed wires with a good fabric loom tape, such as Tesa.

Tesa 51608 15 Original Wiring Loom Harness Adhesive Cloth Fabric Tape (19 mm x 25 m)

5) Don't be confused by the torque specs in the instructions. 80ft-lb is only for body bolts, 18ft-lb for new bolts into steps, and 8ft-lbs for other bracket bolts.

6) When routing the power wires to battery, remove the front wheel well liner so you can be sure to tie the wires far away from the catalytic converter.

7) For 2dr, you might need a few washers, because the bracket is a little off.

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