Absolute nightmare installing OEM side steps...please help!

[piston honda]

New member and 04' Pilot owner here, hello all!

Now first, I both Googled and rummaged this site to find someone with a similar issue to my own, but I came up with little, outside of a blurb that seemed to verify I at least have the correct mounting hardware.

The dilemma:

For the life of me, my tools, and skill-set, I CANNOT thread the mounting bolts into the frame of my Pilot.

Of course with the bracket it's difficult enough, but even attempting to drive them in with a significant amount of pressure with my ratchet simply yields madness.

The underside of the chassis is shockingly clean, and the holes/threads appear in relatively very good shape. Of course I had to pop out the plastic inserts for the outer-most 3 pair so they're particularly clean.

I've sprayed WD-40 in there to loosen any corrosion/junk, but to no avail.

My buddy has a shop that has compressed air, so I'm going to try that this afternoon, but this is nuts!!!

The bolt heads are marked 10.9 which seems to be correct from an older Pilot thread I found. I've tried (7) bolts in (8) holes with zero success, so we're beyond just a bad bolt/hole or two.

Do I need to tap new holes? Please tell me no. My buddy prolly has a tap and die, but it appears that the area for the bracket mounts are specifically reinforced.

What about attempting to re-tap the existing holes? That sounds like another risky proposition to me.

Ugh!

I never expected to run into this mess. I planned on an hour or two and done. I picked these up brand new on ebay for an absolute song, and they came (assumingly) factory-sealed with all parts in place, so I think everything's on the up and up.

Thanks in advance for any tips/tricks!

James

[krazykarguy]

If there is any corrosion on the exposed threads, you might have good success after chasing the threads. I found that when installing my trailer hitch on my '07 that the threads "looked" good, but were completely non-functional.

[piston honda]

Thanks. I do not have a chase set, but he may. He also suggested one last shot with PB Catalyst.

I'm convinced that you and him are correct in that it's the threads. It's just odd that NONE of them worked...not one.

Looks like this is a project that's MUCH easier to take on with a relatively new truck.

I'll let all know how the PB works out.

thanks,
James

[94eg!]

FYI: The 10.9 on the bolt head is the metric grade standard for the steel used. They are the equevient of SAE Grade 8 which is what you definitley want to use. That means they are at least metric bolts, and they are at least the proper strength.

OEM Honda bolts are almost always flange head bolts. These are nearly impossible to find at a hardware store. It's like having a built in washer on the head of each bolt. If yours are flanged, then chances are about 99%+ that you have the OEM hardware. They should look like this:





BTW: Once you do get them to go in, You may want to put a little anti-sieze on these bolts if you ever plan on removing them again.

[jestmaty]

You're using these right?

They came off my 04 less than a year ago after my wife ran over something and bent the crap out of my passenger side step. (Just after a $100 4 wheel alignment! )



Replaced only the passenger step in my case.

But, after 10k more miles since the 'mishap', I have to give it to Honda... it didn't lose it's alignment cause the tires arent wearing funny and it doesn't pull or anything.

The bolts do say 10.9 on em and if you still are having trouble, I'll give you the whole set of bolts/nuts for shipping cost only, if you need them.

[cofetym]

We really have nice forum members.

[schumi]

it sounds like your hardware may be the wrong size. your friend should have an assortment of metric bolts/ or a thread pitch gauge that you can use to find the correct size and thread pitch. you can find flange bolts at pep boys, etc. really can use regular bolts with a washer if you wanted.

[pilot_man_dan]

i took my oem sidesteps off of my old '05 pilot before i traded it in, and when attempting to install on my second '05 pilot, i ran into the same issue as the OP. my hardware looks identical to the pic that jestmaty posted. i haven't had a chance to chase the threads yet, but i'm sure that will fix the problem. the inner bolt holes did not have plugs in them, and they are pretty nasty (midwest - lots of snow and salt). the outer holes had plastic plugs, but the threads are still pretty rusted.

[94eg!]

Just a quick update for this problem. I picked up a set of OEM side-steps for my wifes EX-L for Christmas. When I went to isntall them, I had the exact same problem. It seems the black coating they put on the nuts & bolts is slightly uneven and rather thick. I picked up a 40-piece Metric tap & die set from Harbor Freight for $10 with a coupon (normally $14) and it did the trick. It even comes with a nice little gauge to help determine your thread pitch. I chased the threads on all the long frame bolts as well as all the bolt holes in the frame itself. Now the bolts threaded in super easy with fingers only.

You can also rent a thread repair kit from Autozone for free, but my local Autozone's was missing (of course ).

Harbor Freight 39384: 40 Piece Metric Carbon Steel Tap and Die Set



Autozone Rental 27142: OEM/Thread Restorer Set (27142) | Thread Restorer Set | AutoZone.com



On a side note, the bolt holes that had the plastic plugs were in worse shape the ones without. One of the plugs actually broke off inside the hole. I punched the inner portion in and it popped out into the frame, but left the outer sleeve stuck in the hole. I used the tap that was two sizes smaller to thread into the plastic sleeve and it pulled right out.

[leonk]

Installed OEM side steps on my '08 today (they have the word 'pilot' on the plastic step). Each side step is help in place by 3 brackets. Each bracket is held in place by 4 bolds, 2 on the outside, 2 on the inside. Outside bolts had plastic tabs from the factory (the type you press the middle, and then then they unlock and pop out).

Well, you can all imagine what problem I ran into. The bolts that were protected screwed in by hand, no problem. The inside bolts (with no OEM plastic caps) were a pain! But I managed to get them going with Jiffy Lube.

[3rdrow]

i ran into this same problem on my first '06 i had. side steps, hitch, & subframe kit were all difficult to install. i had to use 10 Piece Tube Brush Kit
, cut the round end off of these brushes and stuck them in my cordless drill. using these brushes and PB Blaster, i got the threads cleaned. i think i went through all but 2 of the brushes before it was all said and done. the '06 we have now was only housed 3.5 hours away from where the first one was housed and the 2nd pilot was a breeze.

[Groundpound4200]

I must have gotten lucky because the steps I installed in my 04 MDX and 07 Pilot were both installed without issues like this.

[onewheat]

I have installed dozens of sets of these on Pilots and never had the problems you are speaking of. Assuming the hardware is correct, which it sounds like it is, you probably just need to chase the female threads. It takes me about 20 minutes to install a set of these - on a lift, of course.

[vas25tl]

Had the same problem but with some elbow grease, patience and determination, I was actually able to get them all in. But wow were my arms in pain the next day!