Video Transcript for Aries AdvantEdge Nerf Bars Step-By-Step Installation - 2023 Chevrolet Silverado 2500

Hello neighbors, it's Brad here at etrailer and today we're taking a look at installing the Aries AdvantEdge nerf bars on a 2023 Chevy Silverado 2500. Many trucks from the factory have lots of ground clearance and that's kind of the nature of a pickup truck. But more and more, we're seeing that crew cabs are really kind of the new norm for pickup trucks. These are family haulers as well as work trucks and you wanna be able to fit everyone in. And part of that is being able to make sure those occupants can get in the truck and they are quite tall. So as I hopped in this truck more than a few times while working on it, I really had to grab a hold of the A-pillar and hop in.

Well now, having this step here, means that it's nice and easy, not only for me, but if you have kids in the back, or maybe someone that's gonna be a little bit challenged in mobility, this is a great option. My parents are about 70 years old these days and I couldn't imagine my mom trying to hop in this truck without a nice step to be able to really get in there and do it surefootedly. And that's where the Aries AdvantEdge really does a great job of checking a lot of boxes. Let's take a closer look. Out the gate, I think these look fantastic.

They're all aluminum and here we have the all black configuration, but you can also match your truck depending on what look you're going for in chrome for the other options. So depending on what look you're going for, you can get that color scheme. Being that it's aluminum, it's nice because installation means that it's not super heavy, it's super strong. But mostly, for something that's gonna get splashed up with road grime and debris, aluminum's not gonna rust, and that's where you may see some older vehicles with some steel ones that are rusted out. You're not gonna have to worry about that here.

Kind of looking at it a little bit closer, the step is 5 1/2 inches wide. So that makes it nice for a, you know, work boot, or you know, if you have larger feet, to be able to step in. And having adjustability on the brackets to really custom fit it exactly how you want means that if you want a little bit less protruding, you could draw this in and still get a nice step. I have it set up as wide as we can go. It makes it a lot easier for hopping in no matter who you are.

But along the flat surface, you can see that they have this plate that is texture-coated with powder coat so you get a nice grip. This also acts as a good spot to trap water, snow, mud, whatever you may be stepping into. And that's gonna allow you to still get traction with your shoe as you get in and out of the truck. The pad, with its hexagonal design, looks really sharp but you can go further if you want to customize it yourself. You can take off the torque's bits, get this off, and you could paint it whatever color you want to match your vehicle. But looking at it, you'll see that kind of hammered, textured finish. That's really nice, not only for grip, but generally any products that I handle that had that finish do a really good job of concealing any scratches or chips and really preventing it from, you know, chipping and flaking away. So for something that you're stepping on, you may have rocks or whatever, that's really nice that it's gonna hold up long term. And some other nerf bars, you're gonna find that these are plastic, which enough UV will break that down and they can crack, where aluminum, this is gonna look great no matter what for many years to come. Now what's really nice, too, is the brackets that they use are really easy to get installed. They use factory spots to be able to mount those up and that's gonna be important when choosing the proper nerf bars for your truck. Especially the advantage is gonna be using our fit guide to get the proper fit for your truck, trim, make, model, everything because they are custom fit. And with that custom fit, it means it's gonna look like it was meant to be there because it was. And with a 500-pound capacity, these feel super solid. There's no give on 'em. As I jump up and down, the truck's moving. But the nerf bars, solid as can be. Think at the end of the day, adding nerf bars to a 3/4-ton truck like this just makes a lot of sense if you have passengers or even just for yourself to get in and out each time, you know. Especially if you are at a job site, you can kind of use that as a boots scrape to keep it out of your truck, but you're gonna have grip as you go up. So if it saves you or someone else from slipping one time and just makes it easier every time you get in and out, it's totally worth it. Another huge benefit of it is the super easy installation. As I mentioned, they use custom-fit brackets, which means there's no drilling required. It really is just a bolt-in application. You really don't need a lift. You're gonna see that in our install, but you could do this in your driveway or garage, probably about an hour, give or take. It's pretty simple and it's one of those accessories that you use every time. Some accessories you put on your truck, they're nice to have and they add something to it. But this is one, it's a touch point. And every time you hop in your truck, you're gonna be stepping on there, you're gonna be happy that you did it. So as far as getting in installed, let's take a look. I'll make sure you get these installed on your truck. Running boards are a super easy installation. You really only need a torque wrench, a 13-millimeter socket. And then, just get your hardware laid out. So you are gonna have four brackets, at least in this configuration on our vehicle, and they are all gonna be the same orientation. So originally, I was wondering if driver and passenger we inchesre different as far as the way that tabs go and that's not the case. I've already pre-installed the ones on the driver's side. On the passenger's side, this tab is gonna go towards the back. You'll see this is the long-slotted portion, that's where our running board's gonna rest. So this is gonna bolt into factory spots that are already on your truck so there's no drilling required. So the next thing I'd recommend, have your hardware organized. There's a decent amount of hardware but it's all pretty simple. So I would recommend getting a bracket set up with two bolts and a split washer and flat washer on each and that's gonna get it attached to the truck. So I'll get these all set up. Now here on the driver's side where I have it installed, they mentioned the spots that you're gonna lay it out and there's multiple spots. So making sure that you have the proper ones is gonna be key. So here we have it all laid out. You're gonna look for the first threaded hole. There may be a plastic cap. If that's the case, you're gonna pry that out with a trim panel tool or a flathead screwdriver. So the first one is gonna go with the first opening that you'll see on the bottom. And then this one, the holes are offset. So as you go back right at kind of this cross member on the body, right behind there is gonna be our next one. And you can see they skipped one here. This looks like it previously had nerf bars or side steps on here. But as we go back, we have our body mount. We're gonna go to our next one. We'll skip the second to last, and then the last one. So it took me a little bit to kind of figure out what they we inchesre trying to say, but it all kind of makes sense. You know, it's roughly say about a 1 1/2 foot in between the front sections. And the middle's a little bit longer at about 2 foot. So just kind of stagger 'em out, the holes should align. And to get this in place, I would recommend first just kind of holding it up to the holes. And then, we'll thread in this top one and we're gonna thread it in by hand, just make it snug. You don't have to get it too crazy. We'll just get the hardware in place. And then, we'll go down to our next spot and just continue until we have four brackets on each side. Now it's time to grab your side step. And these are not side-specific, they're gonna be identical. So driver's side, passenger's side doesn't matter. But we are gonna grab some of our bolts and we're gonna be slotting these in. So there's two slots that we're gonna be putting bolts in and there's so two per bracket, so a total of eight. And we'll slide these in. There's one spot where you can just drive in that bolt, slide this back, and we're just gonna get it roughly in the spot that's close to the bracket. And you might notice I use the styrofoam foam from our kit just to flip that over so we don't scratch it in the process. And we'll just get these all slid into place or pretty close to it before we put it on our brackets. Now we'll just kind of drop this in place and you might want an extra set of hands here just so you don't drop anything and they can help guide that hardware in. But what I try to do is get the back one in place first. And then, once those back ones are in, you can kind of just tilt it up and drop in the front ones. Once you have all of those in place, we're gonna grab our flat washers and our nuts and we're just gonna get those hand-tightened in place for now. And you can get these snug but you are gonna want to adjust these accordingly. Right now ours is way too far back. That's totally fine. We can do some adjustments. So as you tighten it, just hand tight or less is fine just so it just stays in place really. So at this point, we have everything loosely installed and now's a good time to get the other side installed the exact same way that you just did it. And then, we'll come back with our torque wrench, 13-millimeter socket. We're gonna torque down these bolts. You take a look at the chart that they have in the instruction manual for the M8 hardware. It's a very, very low torque setting and that's for good reason. Because these sit in a channel, if you overtighten it, it's gonna bend that channel and no longer really do a great job of being able to adjust this. And the same goes for those weld nuts that you have in the body. You don't need to get crazy. The way that that kind of rests with the bolts, it's not putting a ton of pressure one way or the other so you don't need to crank it down. So torque wrench will make sure that you don't overdo it. So I'm gonna go through, I'll get all of my bracket bolts torqued down properly. And I would recommend do the bottom one first. That'll draw that bracket up all the way so there's not a gap. And then, you can tighten down the top one. Now with those brackets tightened down, really it comes down to getting this dialed in exactly where you want it. And I think this is the hardest part of this entire installation because you wanna make sure that it's gonna look really good. But also, sometimes, putting it too far in, while you will get a cleaner look, the brackets will stick out and it kind of takes away the whole purpose of these of being able to step in your vehicle. Now on the alternative, all the way out can seem a little bit much. It can look a little bit busy on the truck. So really fine tuning exactly where you want it is completely up to you. Personally, on a 3/4-ton like this, this truck I've hopped in a few times as I did the install on the underbed gooseneck. And I had to kind of get, not a running start, but I'm grabbing on the A-pillar to kind of heave myself up. And I'm not, by any means, a short person. So when it comes to children or older people, that's something to keep in mind. Or if you have work boots, getting this dialed in to where all feet can kind of step on there is gonna be key. The next thing is really just adjusting it front to back. And what I try to do to mirror the other side is find a reference point. So what I did is where this edge goes back, it pretty well points to the edge of the cab. And up front here, this pretty well points to the edge of the body line here. So you don't have to follow that exactly, you can kind of alter that how you want, but I think that covers the step area of where you'd be stepping on. Underneath the door is just about perfect. So once you're happy with it, we'll go through, and we're gonna use the same torque setting to torque down those bolts. So just kind of hold that in place. Make sure it's exactly where you want. Torque it down. Do it on the other side. And that's gonna do it for the installation. Hopefully, this video helped you get your Aries AdvantEdge nerf bars installed on your 2023 Chevy Silverado. My name's Brad. Thanks for watching.