SIDE STEPS.
Like many of us, my Station Wagon came without the side steps, these being promised for later. A month later as it turned out. So the I got the welcome call, “Come & collect”.
Collect because I had already decided to fit them myself. Having looked at them on a Belstaff model in the showroom (carefully), they can’t be all that had to mount, surely. What I hadn’t reckoned on was the aftermath of my sepsis attack which has left me with carpal tunnel syndrome. - crap grip & no strength.
Self fit because after years with Series and Defender, corrosion protection has become almost an instinct. All non-visible bits including nuts & bolts got a liberal dose of Bilt-Hamer Dynax S50.
So, these things come in a box each, one for each side – yes, they’re handed. The boxes are about 6ft (1.8m) long and won’t fit in the back of a Gren without rear seats down & front seat forward. Very helpful agents offered to remove them from the boxes and help me stow.
In each box is one step, well and truly wrapped in bubble wrap and a made-up foam box around the step and each mount. There are then two boxes which were oddly light. The fixings (8 x 10mm bolts, 4 x 10mm nuts, 3 x 12 mm bolts & 10 x 18mm dia ring washers) were in a poly bag sellotaped to the larger box. There are just enough, no spares, none for the floor. The two boxes? Empty, pure packing!
Also in each main box are two papers, one an extensive Certificate of Conformity, the other a single A4 sheet. The Fitting Instructions. Fitting Instructions? A ‘Q’ code on this A4 sheet & words saying “Thank you for buying”. And all the Q code does is take you to the Grenadier website. Bah! Instructions I could not find.
The step itself is a 60mm diameter thin wall tube bent at both ends with fabricated welded attachments near each end and one somewhat off centre toward the rear. The front mount with four bolts into captive (welded) nuts, and back with four bolts & nuts both onto the body mounted plates. These need 15mm spanners & sockets. The centre mount has three captive (welded) nuts in the chassis with bolts needing an 18mm spanner/socket. All appear to be coated with a thin powder coat.
Fitting was a doddle – or it would have been with two working hands. Each step is about 15 kilo, more than I could lift, hold & bolt. So I dug out a screw jack, jacked one end up, slack fitted two bolts and repeated that at the other. With the whole thing floppy, the centre mount was easy… on the off side (RHD) that is. The near side had a problem where the side bolt hole was out-of-place with the captive nut in the chassis wall. Drill, burr and a dose of crude language solved that. But, on both sides, the chassis mount is not neat, not well made. There is an angled gap where the side bolt won’t allow the under bolts to flush the bracket plate with the chassis. Leaves a nice rust generating mud trap.
Then it’s just welly up the bolts and you’ve got a step. Total time was 3 hours for the lot, both sides, and probably less for someone with two working hands!
Rather than bash &/or scratch the steps before I could use them I left the packing on the step runner, removing it as the last job. Proved no great problem, in fact probably saved some scratches when I got cocky on the second step, when I thought I knew it all, and the thing fell off the jack.
I’m left with a puzzle, though. Add up all the bolts - 4 front, 4 rear, 3 centre for both sides – I make that 22. OK, so why did they include 20 ring washers of 18mm internal diameter? Biggest bolt is 12mm, rest are 10mm. Dunno……. Any suggestions? I’ve ignored them & it seems to work.
And if you’ve just bought these steps post purchase for around £800, I’d be rather peeved at the shortcomings.
Like many of us, my Station Wagon came without the side steps, these being promised for later. A month later as it turned out. So the I got the welcome call, “Come & collect”.
Collect because I had already decided to fit them myself. Having looked at them on a Belstaff model in the showroom (carefully), they can’t be all that had to mount, surely. What I hadn’t reckoned on was the aftermath of my sepsis attack which has left me with carpal tunnel syndrome. - crap grip & no strength.
Self fit because after years with Series and Defender, corrosion protection has become almost an instinct. All non-visible bits including nuts & bolts got a liberal dose of Bilt-Hamer Dynax S50.
So, these things come in a box each, one for each side – yes, they’re handed. The boxes are about 6ft (1.8m) long and won’t fit in the back of a Gren without rear seats down & front seat forward. Very helpful agents offered to remove them from the boxes and help me stow.
In each box is one step, well and truly wrapped in bubble wrap and a made-up foam box around the step and each mount. There are then two boxes which were oddly light. The fixings (8 x 10mm bolts, 4 x 10mm nuts, 3 x 12 mm bolts & 10 x 18mm dia ring washers) were in a poly bag sellotaped to the larger box. There are just enough, no spares, none for the floor. The two boxes? Empty, pure packing!
Also in each main box are two papers, one an extensive Certificate of Conformity, the other a single A4 sheet. The Fitting Instructions. Fitting Instructions? A ‘Q’ code on this A4 sheet & words saying “Thank you for buying”. And all the Q code does is take you to the Grenadier website. Bah! Instructions I could not find.
The step itself is a 60mm diameter thin wall tube bent at both ends with fabricated welded attachments near each end and one somewhat off centre toward the rear. The front mount with four bolts into captive (welded) nuts, and back with four bolts & nuts both onto the body mounted plates. These need 15mm spanners & sockets. The centre mount has three captive (welded) nuts in the chassis with bolts needing an 18mm spanner/socket. All appear to be coated with a thin powder coat.
Fitting was a doddle – or it would have been with two working hands. Each step is about 15 kilo, more than I could lift, hold & bolt. So I dug out a screw jack, jacked one end up, slack fitted two bolts and repeated that at the other. With the whole thing floppy, the centre mount was easy… on the off side (RHD) that is. The near side had a problem where the side bolt hole was out-of-place with the captive nut in the chassis wall. Drill, burr and a dose of crude language solved that. But, on both sides, the chassis mount is not neat, not well made. There is an angled gap where the side bolt won’t allow the under bolts to flush the bracket plate with the chassis. Leaves a nice rust generating mud trap.
Then it’s just welly up the bolts and you’ve got a step. Total time was 3 hours for the lot, both sides, and probably less for someone with two working hands!
Rather than bash &/or scratch the steps before I could use them I left the packing on the step runner, removing it as the last job. Proved no great problem, in fact probably saved some scratches when I got cocky on the second step, when I thought I knew it all, and the thing fell off the jack.
I’m left with a puzzle, though. Add up all the bolts - 4 front, 4 rear, 3 centre for both sides – I make that 22. OK, so why did they include 20 ring washers of 18mm internal diameter? Biggest bolt is 12mm, rest are 10mm. Dunno……. Any suggestions? I’ve ignored them & it seems to work.
And if you’ve just bought these steps post purchase for around £800, I’d be rather peeved at the shortcomings.
