Deve
You make a good point about leaving the running boards in place to protect your shins. I was just thinking about getting mine off, and maybe put some foam insulation around the brackets sticking out.
I'm sure there was some kind of jig for putting the mounting brackets on the running board at the factory. It's a shame there isn't a set of dimensions for doing that. I'm wondering if the repro running boards come with brackets already welded in place or if they expect you to to it yourself. Maybe a call to Jim Carter would lend some light on that. Or they might have an original running board they'd be willing to measure for you.
I'll see what I can do this weekend. My running boards are in good enough shape to restore, so the bolt locations might be close enough.