To get the ball rolling on our install, and to pawn off all the real heavy lifting while we juggled cameras, we took our 2012 F150 EcoBoost FX4 out to Dyno-Comp in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Tall Matt (there's seriously three Matts there: Tall Matt, Beard Matt, and Tat Matt) was ready and able to help us out.
The first step of our AMP Research install was to install the motors onto the arm assemblies for each side of the truck. The motors simply drop into the circular face of the arm assemblies and then bolts on with Allen head screws.
With the arm motors installed and squared away, Matt went to work unbolting our F150's factory side steps from the body of the truck.
Since the complete arm and motor assembly is actually decently heavy, Matt pre-installed the upper arm mounting bolts into the C-Clips, so he could more easily pop them into place one he got the arm assembly into position.
Next, Matt popped off the lower C-clips, as the lower bolts install directly through the arm bracket.
Once the C-clips were removed, Matt moved the arm assembly into place and bolted it down.
Matt then installed the rear arm, which was less of a bear, due to the lack of a motor assembly, and then aligned the actual step itself onto the arms before screwing it down with the supplied Allen bolts.
After he got the step screwed into place, Matt tested it to make sure the arms would fold properly and then shoved it into place tucked against the truck.
Tall Matt continued installing hardware over on the passenger side of the truck (and the process was exactly the same as the driver's), so Beard Matt lent a hand with the wiring. AMP's wiring harness looks more complicated than it actually is. All it really has is power for steps from the battery, connectors for the motors, wiring for the LED lights, and wiring that ties into power and the latch trigger switch wiring. Beard Matt started his wiring adventure in the engine bay by laying everything out.
He then took the driver's side section of harness and tucked under the upper firewall trim while running it over to the driver's side motor assembly.
With the wiring ran across the bay, it was time to pull it all through to underneath the truck.
Once the wiring was underneath the truck, Tall Matt did his best to make it look clean while running the harness to the motor and and the necessary locations near the door panels.
With the motors connected, Matt pushed the wiring for hooking into the power and latch trigger wiring through the grommets in the floor of the truck, and rolled the carpet and padding out of the way after removing the door trim to completely pull it all through.
Before he got crazy with the splicing and dicing, Matt installed the butt connectors onto the wiring leads for the LED lights.
With the connectors in place, Matt fit the LED lights into the connectors and shrunk them down with a heat gun.
Once the wiring was set up, Matt stuck the LEDs onto the truck using their 3M tape.
Then it was time for the most intimidating part of the install: the motor and trigger switch wiring. You have to wire all four doors, if you have a SuperCab or SuperCrew cab by connecting AMP's wiring into the latch trigger wiring in order to activate the steps when the doors open. That all being said, AMP's instructions are incredibly detailed as to which wires need to be spliced, and they include quick-taps to make it all happen. With all that in mind, Matt got to work.
After he was done tapping into the wiring harness, Matt laid the carpet back down and reinstalled the kick panel.
Matt then reinstalled the door trim and put our WeatherTech Mat back into place.
For the final step, Mat hooked up AMPs leads to the battery, and the install was complete.
Check out the install video below for more information and to see the AMP Steps in action!