I don't believe the nerf bars are any lower than the vehicle I checked mine out and it seems to be even with the under carriage, I'm sure someone will disagree with me on this one oh boy!!!

 

Just like these guys said; because they are dangerous and a great hindrance.
They hang low, and they come out to the side of the truck; this makes for a great surf-board, but not a great obstacle-tackler. They grab mud and the sides of ruts, and elevate your truck to the point that you high center VERY easily.
There also stands the issue of damage. These nerfs are NOT tough. One bamboozlement of a rock, and there are a few possible outcomes:
1. It breaks the nerf in half (read; sturdy for stepping, not sturdy for 5,000lb HUMMER trekking).
2. It dents them up to the point that the doors cannot open
3. It jams the nerf into the rear tires so that it pinches the tire off from movement
4. A rock/obstacle jams the nerfs into the actual from of the truck and cause further damage.


It doesn't take much. Hell, I smashed my nerfs upwards and backwards just by traversing these crazy little hills that would leave me teeter tottering. Of course, this was before my nerfs were removed and my tbars cranked.. but the point is, even exercising your suspension on rocks/hills can lead to slamming back down to hard-pack and destroying them.


Either nothing, rock sliders, or rock sliders with removable steps.

The masses tend to keep their HUMMERs on the streets and maintain their nerf bars, while frowning upon folks that actually utilize their HUMMER appropriately


Believe me, they hang lower, and they come out to the sides (effectively creating a surf-board effect, where the truck gets stuck on top of the mud and prevents the tires from being able to push the truck, ie ruts and getting high centered.

 

We use ours appropriately. It picks the kids up well and provides a safe form of transportation for my wife, who also uses the nerf bars to get in it. Also from time to time it tows my boat and atv's.

How you use your vehicle is up to you and how you dress is it the same. For people to tell me what I should do because they do it...is ridiculous to me. If people spent more time trying to help on here than flame....it would be a much better forum. Especially without SPAM lol.

 

I got the u-steps that mount directly to the rocker bars, and are "removable." That means they are just slightly less of a pain in the *** to remove than tube steps before offroading. Though with the right air tools and wrenches, both are pretty easy to remove.

I got the steps because I carry my girlfriend in my truck a lot more often than I offroad - and without steps it's kind of a pain to get in - especially in a dress.

It would be foolish to assume that anyone with steps doesn't offroad their truck - it would also be foolish not to remove them prior to offroading.

 

My H3 came with a set of nerf bars. I would never have bought them otherwise but so far they have been only a minor PITA. My offroad driving doesn't generally involve rock crawling so I haven't had any real damage to the nerfs - yet. They do gather mud better than any other part of the truck. They also share that gathered mud with your legs or trousers and they do that really well. As steps they work marginally well.

Eventually I will get annoyed enough to replace the nerf bars but not so far. If anyone wants to buy a used set though, I will happily part with them and buy some rock rails. Takers??

 

I like the way the H1 factory bars work the best, pull two pins and slide them off for trail use. This would have been a great design for the factory H3 nerf bars too.

The H3 bars are more of a pain to remove when needed but they sure are awesome door ding blockers when installed for street use.

 

I HATE the nerf bars. When I was out mudding before I bottomed out on the nerd bars, and the passenger side one was pulled back into my tires VERY VERY hard. As I was pulling out of the hole I heard a loud high pitch ballon like rubbing screech.If you could picture the soft 90 degree bend acting as a jam or brake. It was enough to cause a ballon on the tire around where the nerf bar had been jammed into my tire.


So I was STUCK. Luckly I'm not a dumba** and looped my mudding strap around my so call nerf bar, tied the strap to the nearest tree, and backed up my truck thus pulling it back away from tire. For me if their going to put a nerf bar on a HUMMER they should at least make them flush with the frame!


I dont like the look of nerf bars. It seems to add 2" and is just one less thing to worry about while off-road.

 

I leave them on there to keep my wife from complaining when she's climbing in (I ride a stock suspension on 295 Nittos but she's 4'9")... otherwise i'd take them off since I already hit a rock with one of them.

 

Believe me, my wife and 10 year old daughter b*tched for a few weeks too. I told them they can start walking or hitch hiking if they dont like the mans-truck.

 

Amusing that this...

...and this...

Are in the same post...