Power/Auto Running Boards - How to "turn them off"?

I have had my 2019 Tundra 1794 now about 2 weeks, it has the power/auto running boards and have to say I truly hate them. Never even knew they had these Rube Goldberg devices before LOL, but when I saw the truck I figured I could live with them. But nah.......they are just too annoying, noisy and I can just imagine prone to mechanical or electrical failure (and with my luck they'll die in the upright position, or worse, one down and one up). As it is way too much trouble to take them off and put on some good old fashion nerf bars, does anyone know how I can lock these in the open/down position? Simple as maybe pulling a fuse??

 

You can disconnect the power from the battery.

Without knowing which brand and version you have it would be difficult to identify specific methods to disable the product you have.

 

Where are you located ?

 

I bet someone with nerf bars to your liking close to you would be willing to do some horse trading.

 

We need to have a conversation if you are located in bucks county, pa.

 

List them for sale or trade on the forum here and I bet someone takes them off for you.

They are ridiculously easy to remove though.

 

I'm in south central Oklahoma. "Ridiculously easy to remove". OK, I'll get motivated to get underneath and check it out. Although I will first try to locate a fuse though or maybe just disable power wire or such...

 

There’s a fused line going to the battery. Or you can disconnect the wire tap that goes to the door switch wire in the kick panel, or you can simply remove it form the battery.

There’s several sets of two bolts that mount them to the truck. I believe there’s 8 bolts. It’s been a few years since I installed mine so it might be 10.

 

Find the fuse for them. aftermarket usually has an in line fuse holder close to the positive battery terminal, set position you want them in, pull the fuse.. AMP Research boards are what I have.. install instructions are online. For removal besides pulling the fuse, disconnecting wires, removal may be easier by unscrewing the allen head screws from underneath for the step boards them selves, remove step, remove 2 bolts for each mount, 8 total...They are screwed into the OEM holes in the body..

 

Like others have said, there's a fuse under the hood that should be 40A. The other easy option is to disconnect from the OBDII port. The other other option, if you decide to keep them, is to order a 3 setting toggle switch from AMP (if that is the brand you have) to have it set to either in the down, door trigger, or upright position. A fair bit of warning, I believe the only negative with the switch is it's only set for 30 minute intervals.

 

What brand are they ? I have factory Toyota bars that I'd be willing to trade. I'm in Louisiana but could get them to you easily.

 

Mine are AMP also, thanks for info, going to just pull that fuze this weekend !

 

AMP supplies tie-wraps to fasten the controller on the drivers side towards the firewall. There will be a fused power wire from it to the battery. Depending on the version you have, hardwired or OBD, the input wiring varies, but both styles will still have wiring on both sides of the truck to power the motors and/or LED lighting.
If you’re going to remove them, it’s easier to deploy the boards and first remove the board itself. That leaves more room to access the brackets.
As to reliability, I’ve had AMP boards my last two trucks and over a span of 15 years never had a problem, but I’m not in the snow/salt regions.