Jeep Wrangler Foot Pegs

If you're a Jeeper, you know the feeling. When the top's down, the doors are off, your hand's on the gear shift, everything is right in the world. But for some of us, it isn't enough; you want to feel closer to the wind all around you. To satisfy this need, I decided to throw together some footpegs, similar to what I saw online, but nowhere near the $50.00 they keep asking online. For about $25.00, you too can make a pair of customized foot pegs for your jeep! Just read the following instructable, and enjoy!

For the footpeg, you will need:

A pair of bicycle pegs. You can find them in lots of really interesting designs and color schemes, but for my purposes I chose a nice black satin piece.

Two 3/8" x 4" Eye Bolts. These are the ones that I bought, the shortest I could find in the store and they still stick out the bottom peg slightly. You could probably go a little shorter, if they're available.

Two  3/8" x 2" bolt. You can go slightly longer, but be aware that if you go too long you might scrape the paint on your doorwell.

Six 3/8" Nuts. I know I only took a picture with two for the single peg. Oops.

Four 3/8" Fender Washers. These are going to support the peg on the eye bolt.

Four 3/8" Regular Washers.

Four 3/8" Large Neoprene Washers. This is to protect your door hinge from scratches and corrosion, smaller ones work fine too.

To properly dry fit and assemble the foot pegs, it seems to be much easier to finger tighten everything together and then go back with tools later. First, put one of the nuts onto each of the eye bolts, right up to the neck. To mount the pegs onto the bolts, slide one of the 2" bolts into the "hollow side" of the peg. Then thread on one of the fender washers, followed by the eye of the eye bolt, and then a second fender washer.  Finger tighten the nut down to prevent everything from falling off. See the second picture to understand how the eye bolt is sandwiched.

Now, break out the tools. I used a pair of vice grips, but a box wrench or crescent wrench would probably be even more well suited. It's very important to tighten the nuts onto the 2" bolts as hard as you can, to make sure that the weight of your leg won't push the peg away from the center of the eye. I used a small metal rod I found in the garage to push the 2" bolt down and tightened the nut onto it.

If you buy stainless steel fittings, I suppose this step is mostly optional. But I wanted a uniform look for my exterior accessories, and I've never been a big fan of the chromed out look. Using painters tape and pieces of old plastic bags, I masked off the threads of the eye bolt and the peg itself; mask off whatever you see fit. I also painted the washers and nuts that were going become a part of the assembly, to further carry the black theme. To do this, I took some chinese restaurant chopsticks and their wrapper to keep paint out of the threads. See the second picture for more details.

Don't make my mistake. In the background of the first picture, you can see a rubberized spray paint can. It was awful, did not do what I wanted it to at all. If you really want something heftier than paint, I recommend some spray-on truck bed liner. No matter what you choose, ensure that you apply a thin coat each time you spray, to give a better finish.

Once your paintjob on your pegs suits you, remove the bags and the masking tape, and with a paintbrush and some black paint, touch up any spots you need to.

Once any touching up is done, slide the eye bolt through one of the regular washers and one of the neoprene washers, and then down into the bottom door hinge. Using a Sharpie, mark a line where the bolt comes out of the hinge.

Next, you need to protect the inside of the hinge from threads on the eye bolt. After removing the bolt from the hinge, tape everywhere between the line you marked and the nut at the base of the eye. Although the 3/8" bolts fit in the hinge very well, there's still some play in it. By taping around the threads a few times, you can get both a better fit and prevent the bolt's threads from cutting into the inside of the hinge, keeping it from corroding.

Once you tape the threads, you're ready to go! Grab a box wrench (honestly, buy a ratcheting one and keep it in your Jeep's toolbox, it helps) and tighten that sucker down! You're going to really need to put some elbow grease into turning the nut, to make sure that even with the neoprene washers, the pegs don't twist at all.

Hope you enjoyed reading about and making your own Jeep Wrangler Foot Pegs! Do me a favor, and keep those feet in the breeze!