Video Review & Installation

Hey, guys. Adam here with americantrucks.com. Today, we're taking a quick look at and installing the Barricade 4-inch oval bent and side step bars in black with a rocker panel mount, available for the '14 to '18 Silverado 1500. You should be taking a look at this particular option if you want a more traditional, affordable side step in the category. There's a number of different ways you can go with help getting in and out of your truck: side steps, nerf bars, running boards, drop steps, power steps, the list goes on. There's just tons and tons of them out there. So, really this is a good way and an easy way to pick something that fits your preference and makes your truck look and feel the way you want. Side steps here, in the traditional sense, are just something to help you get in and out with a pad underneath of your doors. The traditional side step looks a lot like this. It has a nice negative gap between the step itself and the body of the vehicle. It mounts with a couple of brackets, either on the body mount or the rocker panel. This one, again, is that rocker panel mount. This one is an oval side step bar with bent ends, meaning it just curves into the body. Gives it a nice complete look in my opinion and it's got a black powder coated finish over top of a stainless steel tubing construction. Pretty durable stuff here. You're losing a little bit of ground clearance here so, if you are an avid off-roader, you might be looking into something that is built for off-road. There are some out there that are built a little bit tougher to take on off-road obstacles and something that will connect right to your body without compromising that ground clearance. So, this one here, a lot more traditional, a lot more basic. It helps you get in and out of your truck which is especially useful for you and your family, even kids if you have a lifted truck with bigger wheels and tires. On top of that stainless steel tubing is gonna be an ABS plastic slip-resistant pad here which is great for all year round usage. And again, slip-resistant because of that textured finish or that tire tread-like finish. This one, being a Double Cab, has two of them, one under each of the doors and the same thing on the opposite side. So, at the end of the day, the traditional side step here is for the guys who want one of the more affordable options, coming in right around 200 to 220 bucks and who likes that look for their truck. If you wanna get something a little more extreme or a little more stylish or a little more modern, prices definitely vary and appearances vary. This one being the 4-inch option is right in the middle of the pack. There are skinnier or lighter 3-inch options and beefier, bulkier 5 and 6-inch options.The installation, one out of three wrenches on our difficulty meter. It'll take you about two hours from start to finish. These brackets here all mount to the rocker panel and to a hole in the body. So, if your truck has those open holes on the pinch rail, this is the way to go. If not, there are body mounts out there for you to choose from. Tools used for this install are a ratchet and a 13-millimeter socket. Now, the first thing you wanna do is insert your metal clip nut into the larger hole of the two. You wanna make sure the threading is going through the smaller hole and then bolt it down with your hardware, repeating this process for the other three sections. Now, once you have those clip nuts in place on the open holes on your body, you're gonna be putting your brackets in place with the hardware provided in the kit. Now, you wanna make sure you're not over-tightening the hardware. You wanna leave it nice and snug, but loose enough to make some adjustment later on. So, we're gonna use this to hold our bracket into place. Now, grab your ratchet and socket set and tighten down the hardware. All right. Now, we're repeating this for the other two brackets.Next step here, we can put our side steps on to the brackets. And from here, you can grab your bolts, flat washers, and lock washers and thread them down by hand just to get it in position. Now repeat this for the rest of the brackets. All right. Now, once your brackets are completely tightened down and everything is torqued to spec, you're good to move on to repeat the same process for the other side. All right. Now that we have our side steps bolted to the brackets, you can see we still have one more to attach it to. This bracket has a hole for the pinch rail hole. If your truck doesn't have one of these, you wanna make sure you're following the directions on how to properly mount your brackets. Ours does so we're gonna take these clip nuts, slide them into place on all three. All right. Now you can take the black hardware included in the kit to tighten these down. Now you wanna make sure you're using the black hardware because it is a little bit more inconspicuous and blends in. All right. Now, once the top brackets are tightened all the way down, you can repeat for the other side. All right, guys, that's gonna wrap up my review and install of the Barricade 4-inch oval bent and side steps in black with the rocker panel mount, available for the '14 to '18 Silverado 1500. If this one fits your preference, you can get yours right here at americantrucks.com.