ASD Dad

Added some quick photos. I may add some more later, the van is filthy right now!

I have a 2015 NVP 3500 SL. I have 3 kids that are 10 yrs old and under and they can actually get in and out of my van just fine. The issue is my parents and in-laws. They are in their 70's and we have been carrying a small folding step stool for them to get in and out easier. I have been avoiding running boards as I didnt want to lose too much ground clearance and I honestly didnt like many of the options we have. Well my wife has wanted me to get a set for a while since my in-laws live next door and we see them constantly. My van is used for all the family outings so I finally broke down and ordered a set. I bought these - http://www.luvernetruck.com/category/360/Grip%20Step%207%22%20Running%20Boards I got them from Amazon after searching the model numbers. They will not just come up without the numbers on Amazon. Many sites sell them but the best price I found was Amazon and they have Prime shipping and great return policy. They were under $400 shipped. They arrived well packed in two boxes. One had the actual running boards and the other is the bracket and mounting hardware. Since they are aluminum steps the long package was quite light. The brackets are powder coated steel. So - first step - Throw Out the directions! No seriously. Do it. Do it now and thank me later. I would only use the directions to sort of get a general idea of how they mount and how the brackets work. The rest of the steps and measurements were utter garbage. You can quickly tell after you start laying things out how bad the directions really are. The big issue? Well the directions and parts are new. When they changed I am not sure but if you look at all the online directions (even at Luvernes site) they are different with different part numbers. The actual parts list has different part numbers! The original directions were dated from 2012. The new parts and directions are dated 2017. At some point they added three twisted steel braces to keep the steps from flexing. The original directions and photos dont show them. The 2017 parts list and directions do show them. Extra bracing is good, right? They would be good if they remotely lined up correctly! (remember the throw out the directions part?). If you go off their measurements they work on the drivers side, one works on the passenger and the other is a foot off. Not even close. The issue here is the welded bolt/bar T-bolt they made that slides into the oval holes in our frame. Well at one measurement there is no hole! Next issue - those welded bolts dont fit in the holes... I had to grind off the corners to make them fit correctly. Next big issue - those nice new braces do Not line up correctly. They were so far off I thought it I had the wrong parts. Nope. They all matched the parts list with the correct NV on it. Back to the work bench to modify those to fit. They are still not perfect but they are mounted and work. Next issue - since you have to drill all the holes (3 per bracket - one bolt through the pinch weld and two lag bolts into the body) and no factory pinch weld is straight it was fun to get everything leveled up. First time I clamped things to the weld I was 1" off from end to end! You dont have much wiggle room due to the pinch weld being narrow. (On my past trucks the bars bolted to factory mounting points or existing bolts/studs, it was very easy to line up). So after I figured all that out to begin with I got a plan going and got everything mounted and level within 1/8" end to end. The biggest issue was those new support braces being so comically off in alignment. Those braces DO work well so I wanted them but they were a giant pain. I would have called Luverne but it was the weekend and they were closed. I need these boards for Thanksgiving so just made it work on my own. After all that, am I happy? Overall I honestly think I am happy with how they turned out even all that mess. I am not sure I would buy them again but there was nothing else I liked off the shelf. The actual steps and brackets are well made. They are very grippy which I wanted. They dont flex much even under my father-in-laws weight (he was a football linebacker in college - big guy!). They do flex a little but nothing concerning. The steps will never rust but the brackets and hardware may rust eventually. I did lose ground clearance of course but that would happen with most running boards other than retractables or something like a modified N-Fab that was tucked up against the body. I may go back and weld in some other braces since I like how they work. I can just weld them to the frame vs. making a T bolt. I would have welded in the wonky Luverne pieces but I have to use a friends welder and I didnt want to drive over there and bug him to borrow it. I will post photos of them mounted up. I had to go back and realign the drivers side today so didnt take photos yet.

Thanks, I just pinned it so it is easier next time.

Only problem with avoiding clueless dealerships. You don't have much choice in many areas. In my geographical area I have 1 dealer. Next closest is about 1.5 hours. That's one big downside with the NV, commercial dealers only.

Welcome to the site.

Thanks for the update! Many members here come to complain about an issue, get it fixed and then never return to let anyone know if or how it was fixed.

Cant be done. The spacing is not right for the floor latches.

I have tried 4 brands of LED headlights and only one is still in my van. The Nineo from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/NINEO-Headlight-360°Adjustable-Pattern-Conversion/dp/B06XBLHMM9/ Does the 2017 use a separate hi/lo bulb? All NV's up until now use H13 bulbs. You mentioned using H11. Those should not even fit let alone work correctly. I did have to play with alignment with the Nineo but they are the only ones that provide a good amount of light, excellent high beams and dont seem to be producing too much glare. I do a fair amount of night driving and have never been flashed since installing, aligning and aiming them. They still arent perfect but H13's have bad patterns to begin with. I think the pattern is nearly as good as my custom adjusted HID's with an actual usable high beam (my HID had almost no high beam throw). These are most definitely brighter than stock bulbs or Philips Xtreme Visions. Look forward to seeing the Amps on your van. I just picked up a set of Luverne Grip Step boards and they hang down lower than expected.

I did nothing to the nuts. My brackets had a thin sheet of rubber you placed under the bottom. Topper galvanized steel rack. You can always buy a sheet of rubber to do the same. You'll want it very thin so you dont just crack it when tightening down. For the nuts you can get rubber or hard plastic washers at most hardware stores. They would need to be thin as well, there is very little room to get the nut on under those mounts.

Advanced seems to beat to their own drum. They also do 4 Low Range when Nissan has told Quigley not to do that. I dont know how Advanced gets around the possible limp mode issues or if they just dont care. Quigley seems to have a much closer relationship with the manufacturer.

Love that color, congrats on the van and welcome! Also congrats on getting your NV inside a garage. Many find it will just barely Not fit a normal door. We are the opposite on vehicles though, we kept my wife's Sienna and I traded my Tundra TRD! Way too little room in my truck and my wife likes her van and gets double the gas mileage of the NVP.

Welcome to the site!

I am still shocked at the lack of options for running boards. These are not small vans and you see a ton of them used for shuttles. There are really only a small handful of options. I need some for my parents and in-laws. They are starting to struggle a bit and we have a small folding step stool we carry around. I am leaning towards the Luverne Grip Steps right now, no way to slip on those and being all aluminum I never have to worry about rust (even though we dont get much rust here!).

Just to echo what has been said above - TIRES. 4WD just helps you get unstuck when you get stuck. You normally get stuck because you have 4WD and think the vehicle is invincible. I was a ski and snowboard instructor for many years. I always drove 2wd sports cars. I had a dedicated set of snows on winter wheels and would drive right past stuck 4WD and AWD SUV's and cars who were on their "all season" tires. Do you really want to take a 6500 pound, 20 foot long, 7 foot tall vehicle for serious off roading?!

Kind of happy this was bumped back up, I have been experimenting withe LED's since the new designs have come out with adjustable bases and built in shields for glare and pattern. My HID's died and I didnt feel like messing with alignment again. I also never liked their high beam pattern. I can say do NOT get the Auxbeam lights. They are triangular in design and throw spot beam of light. There is almost no spread and you really cant adjust them to get rid of that pattern. They went back immediately. I am currently trying out the Nineo brand from Amazon. They are the same as several others, just different names on the box. They have a built in shield for the low beams to get a better pattern and reduce glare. So far they are working well but I really had to lower my housing alignment. Once I did that the pattern looks decent with just a few cool spots. They are very bright. The bonus - they have a great high beam pattern. They really throw some light in a nice beam down the road. I did align them ever so slightly off the way they come but it was easy. Most lights including the Auxbeam have a setscrew you can take out to adjust the orientation. I plan on running with these a while especially with the time change and getting dark so much earlier. I'll see how they do in the next week or two.

My setup is in my sig line and I would recommend both. Pros for the Blue Ox - it is clean (grease is captured inside the swivels), it works off geometry and physics vs. straight friction so it is quiet, the rotating latches are super easy to hookup, the spring steel bars make a smooth ride, very little to adjust (only need to worry about tension). Cons - it is Heavy. The whole head is one piece of steel and weighs close to 70 pounds. The powder coating isnt the best and flakes off leaving possible areas of rust. Tekonsha P3 - been around a long time. They have harnesses that plug right into the Nissan factory harness so no splicing needed. They are not too picky about location or orientation. Honestly - if you stick with a good brand - Reese, Blue Ox, Equalizer, Husky even Curt and many others for the hitch and for the controller you'll be just fine. What ever you buy make sure to read the manual thoroughly and dont trust the dealer to set things up right. They normally want you in and out quickly and wont want to make the fine adjustments.

I can see again! Admin finally got it fixed, it was a software glitch. No mods could open attachments. Fun stuff, yes?? Beautiful van you have there. I am jealous, I would have bought Pearl White if it was available. Silver is nice and all but boring.

The admin of this site drives me nuts. I still cant view photo attachments like above! Shows up as a broken link and if I click it I get a No Permission error. I've contacted Admin several times with no response. I can see uploaded photos like the recent rack and winch threads. Just not attachments like above... Annoying!

Your photos of the rack are in your winch thread. I don think it looks bad at all! I would put some truck bed liner on it and call it a job well done.

What winch did you use? Was it easy to remove the bumper? I need to take mine off this winter to do some work. My wife backed into my NV when we were at a birthday party and I was parked right behind her in the lawn! Put a nice dent dead center of my bumper. Her Sienna has almost no damage surprisingly.

I'm pretty sure they just state 8900 max now in the manual, I know in the past it was 16,000 combined. You really just need to pay attention to your axle weights/limits. Stay under for the rear axle and check to make sure you didnt take too much weight off the front axle. You could have a lighter tongue weight and load up a crazy amount of heavy gear in the van and go over the axle rating. You could have a very poorly adjusted WD hitch and front axle will be too light. It's all measurements and making sure you stay in guidelines. You also have to be comfortable towing. If somebody has never pulled anything and suddenly decides a 35 foot bunkhouse at 9000# is the right first trailer it could be a rude awakening on the road and when you have to park or maneuver in a tight spot the first time. I see a ton of people that just hook and up and go. They never adjust their hitch, their brake controller, check their tire pressure (tow vehicle and trailer), etc. You're asking for trouble doing those things.

Congrats on the NV and welcome to the site. I have yet to see a pearl white NV and would like to see one in person. My local dealer always sells out his NVP's once they arrive.

The slider or actual passenger door? There have been other posts about the slider squeaking and rattling.

The old Nissan books stated 16,000 pounds combined for the van plus what you are hauling. If you want to push the limits you'll need to weigh the van loaded up for how you would take it camping and go from there. If you just want to go shopping I would stick with a 8000 lb "gross" weight camper (dry weight of camper plus it's cargo capacity) just to check out what your options are. Never go off dry weights that are advertised. They dont include anything loaded and often dont include things like batteries or propane tanks. Our camper is 7700# loaded heavy and the NVP tows it just fine even through the Appalachian or Blue Ridge Mountains. You wont win any speed contests or pass people going up a steep incline but it tows well.

Nissan sells a carpeted set for the rear. I use carpet runner from a hardware store (Lowes, Home Depot, etc) as do others. The problem with a set of rubber mats like Weather Tech is that we can move our seats around in these vans. Size would be different depending on where you put your seats. A flat piece of carpet mat with slots is much easier to mass produce.