hello my name is Danny Hopkins and I'm
here at Britpart HQ in Shropshire with
managing director Paul Myers hello Paul. Hi.
here we have a Discovery 3 a Discovery
4 sidestep obviously they come in
pairs Paul we should you fit Britpart
side steps rather than something you
find an auto jumble we have these
manufactured exactly the same way as an
OE sidestep so we have all the correct
brackets all the correct hardware and
the specification is perfect brilliant
and of course you can fit them at home
and to show you how to do just that
here's Martin in the workshop a very
common upgrade for Discovery 3 are side
running steps and there's a number of
reasons for this first of all obviously
they let you get in and out of the car a
lot easier secondly they provide a level
of protection for the doors and lower
panels from other less careful people
opening their door into yours and
thirdly that just look really good there
are a number of kits on the market but
with the Britpart
kit you get proper load bearing brackets
bow up to the sills so the steps can
actually be used for their proper
purpose and not just for cosmetic
reasons there's a little bit of
stripping down to do got to remove these
plastic trims but they're a fairly
straightforward job that could easily be
done at home so let's get started right
so the first job to remove the plastic
trim is the there's two Phillips screws
to undo from inside the rear wheel arch
and if you use a bit driver with a good
good condition fresh bit makes the job a
lot easier because you don't have to remove
the wheel to get screwdriver in so if we
undo the screws what you will find
especially if your cars a little bit
older is that the nut plate behind that
the screw goes into will probably be
very rusty so you might have to just get
your hand up on behind the plastic trim
and hold that steady to wind the screws
out so that's the first one that's the
remnants of one of the screw plates as
you can see you have to replace that
when you put the trim back on it's the
second screw out so once they're out of
the way the next job is to undo release
the row of plastic pin clips underneath the sill so good quality metal
trim tool to get them out they have a
centre part like so bring that out first
and then can be a bit fiddly the metal
part sorry the outer part will come out
afterwards and there's eight of those to
get out once you've done a couple it
does get easier you sort of get the
knack of it but because they probably
will have been in there from new they
can be a bit tricky to get started it
doesn't matter too much if you damage a
couple of these bringing them out
because you'll have bolts going through
some of these holes anyway when you fit
the steps yeah so it's not the end of
the world if a couple get damaged
because like I say some of these holes
have bolts coming through them anyway so
you can leave a couple of the clips out
both screws are out all the trim clips
are out so the next thing is there's a
series of plastic poppers that hold the
top edge of the trim onto the sill so if
we open this door I want to use a
plastic trim tool for this because
otherwise you're going to scratch the
paintwork most big thick one so it
doesn't snap or Bend go in between the
top of the plastic sill and the body and
just lever it away like so and the trim
clips will release work your way towards
the front
the way along you probably find that you
get sort of two or three clips released
at the same time but that's okay all the
way along so as you can see the trims
come down a bit you'll probably get a
lot of mud and dirt falling out so
finally you need to slide the trim
backwards towards the back wheel and it
unhook from the trim at the front like
so and it comes off so we need to cut
holes in this trim for the brackets to
pass through so we need to clean it up
first because they're actually
underneath all this mud the locations
for the holes we need to cut are
actually marked in the plastic so head
over to the bench and cut our holes now
okay so with the trim off the car you'll
be able to see that Land Rover have
helpfully marked out where we need to
make the holes for the brackets to pass
through
we're just highlighting these in yellow
so that you can see them properly so
that's where we need to cut will then
pop the center's out and this can be
offered back up so in order to make the
holes the easiest way of doing it is by
getting a nice big drill bit and
drilling each corner of the trim and
then we join up all the holes with a saw
we've got an electric saw here but you
can just use a hacksaw if you've got one
at home so we'll do that now and then we
can continue with the process so just
gonna make a hole in each corner join
them up and pop the top the centre's out
of the holes again these don't have to
be perfect because the side steps will
actually cover up the holes anyway so as
long as they're big enough for the
brackets to clear you can get away with
quite a lot when you fit this
always wear glasses or safety goggles
when you're doing this by the way
obviously so you don't get shards of
plastic in your eyes so it's helpful
also to do a double-hull where you need
to start with the saw just so you can
get the blade in if you've got quite a
big saw blade like that
okay so we've then made as you can see
got a hole in each corner just take the
saw and carefully cut along the lines
you've marked
continue that I swear it's helpful to
have a bench or something solid you can
rest the trim on so you can let the let
the blade pass through without catching
on anything you want a nice sharp blade
for this as well because although it's
only plastic
does make the job a lot easier
so one more to do and that's that done
now all we need to do is get a Stanley
blade or a nice sharp knife clear up all
this plastic and then do the other two
holes so just go along scrape all the
excess off although you can't see it you
want it to be nice and neat underneath
drop bits of plastic everywhere make
another small cut there just to make
sure this back edge clears not quite
followed the line there
once you've cleared up D bird all the
holes you're ready to do the other two
and then fit the trim okay back over at
the car with our trim we've got our
three holes cut out for the brackets the
last job we have to do to this before we
offer it up is enlarge this hole which
is the second from the front and these
two back here to rear most holes to 13
millimeters and that's because the two
of the bolts from the rear bracket and
one on one of the fronts will actually
pass through this trim and hold it in
place so we're going to do that now so
then it's the second one from the front
that's just to allow the bolt pass
through a lot easier
so before we offer this up just be aware
there's four tangs at the front of the
trim which need to locate into the front
corner piece at the bottom of the front
wing they can be a bit fiddly to line up
so take your time don't force anything
otherwise you could break something so
just reach up locate each one that is
home so we don't want to actually clip
the trim back on yet because we need to
feed our brackets up through the holes
and get them loosely bolted to the sills
so we'll start that now the front one
and you'll notice that each bracket for
each side is different so make sure
you've got them in order before you
start so all your hardware out first and
then depending on the age of your car
you may want to use a tap just to run
through all the holes in the sill to
clear out any rust or dirt this is an m8
by 1.25 tap and just run it it won't
actually cut a thread because the holes
already threaded from the factory but if
you just give it a few turns let any
rust and out bring it out
that'll make fitting the steps a lot
easier so the next job we've tapped all
the holes cleared all all the dirt and
debris out of them got the front edge of
the plastic trim engaged in it's the
bottom part of the wing so now we can
loosely bolt the brackets up to the sill
now it's important that these go in the
right direction
this is the bracket that goes at the
front they're all a different shape this
is the center bracket here but it's very
important now you can't get them the
wrong side on each sill but you can get
them wrong side to side and then you're
going to fit the step and nothing will
line up so just offer each one up in
turn make sure all the holes match the
holes in the sill and you can't really
go wrong so each bolt you use will
require a washer and as we've already
mentioned three of the bolts will go up
into the sill through the plastic trim
so it's important not to fit them until
the sill trim is clicked in place so
it can be a bit of a fiddle to get the
first bolt started because obviously
you're contending with the the plastic
trim but that's part of the process and
if you don't locate the trim in the wing
first then there's no way of getting it
in after fitting the brackets so just
hang that one loosely to begin with and
as we cut we drilled out the second hole
to 13 millimeters because the bolt will
pass through it we aren't going to fit
that bolt yet we'll fit that last so the
frontmost bolt on the front bracket can
go in but not the second one it's very
important to start these by hand because
if you go putting a ratchet or an impact
gun or anything like that on them to
begin with there's a possibility you
could cross thread them in and then
cause problems so with the front bracket
hanging loosely on the seal we can fit
the second one which is this one again
you can't get them in the wrong order on
the same seal but you can fit them side
to side just offer this up whine the
belts in by hand just so there's enough
movement in the slotted holes for the
step to settle when we offer that up and
then this one has two underneath as well
just a shuffle the bracket around
slightly to get them started they should
all go in very easily especially if you
clean the holes out with the tap as you
can see there's a bit of front and back
movement on the brackets just to help
the studs in the step line up
and then the last one again this does
have a bolt that comes up through the
plastic trim which is in fact they both
come out free the plastic trim on this
one so we're just going to fit these
horizontal ones into the sill okay see
the movement there okay so we've that
last bracket in place we're going to pop
the plastic trim up over the brackets
sit the steps on the brackets and the
line all the stud so we can nip the
bolts up make sure everything's in the
right place okay so with step lifted in
place all the brackets will be lined up
correctly with the studs on the step and
we can use 13 millimeter ratchet spanner
just to ease this trim back and nip
these horizontal bolts up into the sill
so that when we remove this again
to tighten everything for the final time
it will be in the right place okay so
with all the bolts tightened up or
nipped up just enough to hold the
brackets in place you can lift the step
back off and then fully tighten the
horizontal bolts fit any vertical bolts
that we missed and then the step can go
on for the final time
now with all the bolts that pass through
the plastic trim they have a spring
washer just to use as a little spacer so
that they actually don't crush the
plastic as you wind them in so don't
forget to add them as you fit them okay
so now that we know that all the
brackets are aligned correctly we can go
tighten all the horizontal bolts pull
the brackets up to the sills of the car
with the vertical bolts fix the plastic
in place and then fit the step for the
final time right
all the brackets are finally secured so
we can now click the plastic trim back
on shut the doors and offer the step up
just make sure along the top of the
plastic that all of the little white and
yellow clips line up before you press
them home otherwise you're probably
going to break it just tap each one with
your hand like so to join it back onto
the sill that's back so shut the doors
and you can use any undamaged clips to
fill the holes the aren't filled by
bolts just to secure or the lower edge
back to the car keep it nice and tidy
this is why I didn't matter too much but
if you broke a couple removing the trim
because there's three holes that are now
filled by bolts so it's not the end of
the world get them in once the trim
clips are in don't forget to refit your
two screws in the back of the sill here
to hold the back of the plastic trim
there's a rubber lip along the end the
top edge of the side step it's important
to make sure that that folds under the
plastic seal trim so lift the step line
the brackets up make sure that rubber
lip goes underneath like so once the
studs are in you can get your smaller
nuts and small washers start one on each
stud
with the step in all nuts and washers
started needed 10 mil socket to tighten
them up with now as you tighten them you
want to make sure the step stays level
with the side of the car and that this
rubber lip doesn't poke out anywhere so
and also that this centre ridge in the
step aligns with the door gap between
the front and rear door to give a good
finish so do them all up gradually by
hand
make sure the gap stays correct adjust
if you need to it's good and then give
them all final little nip with the
ratchet so they're all tight this side
is done I just need to do the other side
don't forget to check out the other
videos fitting accessories on the Britpart workshop series
