DIY N-fab style Step bars

So I was looking into lifting my truck, researching and what not, and I remembered that I'm pretty short and if I do lift the truck I'll eventually need to get in and out of it right? So I figured I'd buy some step bars(my truck didn't come with them) while looking on Amazon and other websites that sell them, I realized they're like $300+ dollars plus shipping.

It's just some metal tubing right?
I have a welder, and love saving money. So I decided to make some myself.

It's not as hard as you might think. But it is time consuming. I have finished the driver side already. And it is a bit rough.
So as I'm making the pasenger side, I'm going to need more finesse and patience.

Here are some pics and how I did mine.
First, I purchased some 10' x 2" tubing, from the local home improvement store. Then I measured where on the truck I want it to be, cut it down to size using my inexpensive harbor freight grinder. Which works as well as my makita for work, surprisingly

And I bought a bunch of 3/4 black iron piping at:
12" (2 per side)
6" (4 per side)
And a 45 degree elbow joint.
I made the steps longer, and protrude out more from the base tube because i wanted a wide step area.
Once the tubing was grinded down to size and ready for welding it was about 10" and 4"
Here is the joint and the 4" piece before welding In the back is a completed step, along with tons of dust and slag haha

I made the brackets for the actual step out of excess angle iron I got from work. I'm a carpenter and we use it as posts to keep us from falling to our death on some jobs.

I cut 3 1/2 inch sections of the angle iron, welded them together with the ends facing opposite directions, like two L's (I'll post pics later) and drilled out a hole for it to bolt onto the holes on the bottom of the truck, the stock holes.

Once the brackets were in place I welded up the base 2" tubing, and welded up the steps I know my garage was messy at the time. I have cleaned it since I snapped these pics haha.
All in all, it costed me less than $80 to put these together myself, because I already owned most of the tools and some of the material I needed. Took me about 24 man hours to complete the first one, because it was a lot of trial and error, and a ton of grinding. The second one will not take half as long.


This is my first post, I know I'm missing some descriptive explanations that some people might want. Feel free to ask questions, and I'll post more as I complete the passenger side.

 

Congratulations ! They look great. R U going to paint them ??

 

As you pointed out its a bit rough, but looks good so far. I think the driver's side will need a bit of work to really make it clear, but overall you've done a great job. The N-fab's are expensive, I got a steal when I bought mine new for $250

 

Yeah $250 is a steal. I would have bought them too.
half way through I got sick of making them and started wondering if it was worth buying.

This is the driver side with paint

 

Damn... Impressive! Great job man!

 

Much thanks guys. Really appreciate the kind words
Here are some more pics I snapped earlier. This is how I made the brackets/mounts
Surface prep

So I fabbed up the passenger side today, and got some pictures while mocking it up.

Drilled out the holes using a 1/2" titanium bit, and bolted it to the underside of the cab, in the factory threaded locations with the ends of the nerf bar supported by jack stands

Slip in the bottom end of the bracket


And weld it up.

 

Looking really good. Personally, I would try to tuck the main tube up closer to the bottom of the cab. The workmanship is top notch!

 

Thanks silver bullet. I did think of tucking it closer, but I wanted it to sit lower, so my passengers (and myself ) could get in easier when it's lifted. My wife is 5'0 and complains about hopping in at stock height.

 

I know the feeling, my wife is 5'3" and struggled...its the only reason I got the steps! lol

 

Here's a picture of a step before mock up
Notice the ends are cut to mount flush onto the base pipe

Jack stands did a great job of holding the opposite end of things while I welded them in place.

 

Haha yeah man, I plan on lifting like 3-4 inches so once that's done I know I won't hear the end of it haha. So I planned ahead
Happy wife happy life...

 

hmm. some conduit is pretty thick from what i remember when i had to run 2+ i guess they can be different thicknesses. gotta check what i have left on my truck from install, i know i have couple 10ft pieces. thanks for idea, was gona cut ladder rack i got that doesnt fit truck. this might be alternative

 

I don't recall the exact thickness of the conduit I used, but if I had to guess from memory I'd say it was about 1/8 of an inch thick.

 

Good job!!!

 

They look pretty good but definitely need to slap some bedliner on them.