Intro
One of the first things I wanted on my Bronco was electric/ powered running boards that come out when I open the doors. So I went on a quest on the internet to find running boards that would match my Bronco. I found 3 brands that make electric/powered running boards for the Bronco: Rock Slide Engineering, Aries, and AMP Research . I did research on each of them. Looking at how much they cost, what they look like and how much chaos they can handle. The running boards I went with were the Aries ActionTrac Powered Running Boards. I brought them from real truck.com.
They cost me $1,604.95. It was $1,499.95 for the item itself then $105.00 for tax. The order met the free shipping requirement, so that’s good.
I paid how much?!
I understand paying $1,604.95 for powered running boards (or steps as some like to call them.) Is a big ripoff to most people when you can buy regular non-powered running boards for $300+. However only 3 brands made powered running boards for the Bronco at the time of my research. Rock Slide Engineering, Aries, and AMP Research. Therefore I had a limited selection to work with.
Let me tell you why I went with the Aries running boards.
During my research I looked up info on what powered running boards were and how they worked on other vehicles. I found out that the motors in the running boards can die and will need to be replaced at some point with normal use. When the motors die the running boards no longer come down. Furthermore making them useless and just dead weight. If the user does not want to change out the motor. I saw this as a major issue that may happen to me in the future.
So I reduced my research to the Aries and Rock Slide Engineering running boards because they had two steps to their designs. They had a step that drops down and a 2nd step that doesn’t move that is attached to the Bronco. The Amp running boards had a single step that comes down when a door is opened and goes back up under the Bronco when you close the door. Consequently if the motor stops working, then the running board does not come down anymore until the motor is replaced. The Aries and Rock Slide Engineering both give me a step regardless if the motor works or not.
Head to head with Aries and Rock Slide Engineering
Now that Amp is removed from the research. Only Aries and Rock Slide Engineering remain. They both are similar in appearance and function. But the Rock Slide Engineering is tougher and can be used as a rock rail if need be. In spite of it defeating the Aries in toughness, the Rock Slide Engineering running boards are $2000+ while the Aries is $1499.95. With a $500 difference in price I thought hard on the pros and the cons of both running boards.
With the Aries running boards I get what I want with the minimum money spent. But if I do some rock crawling they will get damaged. Even so I can just buy some rock rails for under $500 if I really want to go rock crawling. Going with the Rock Slide Engineering I get tough running boards that I can beat on and they will be fine. But at the $2000+ price point, I think they are overpriced. I went with the Aries running boards due to price and function.
Coming up next, how did I install the running boards?
