Rear steps swinging in the breeze - OK or bad practice
We have just bought an F350 with a Bigfoot 2500 10.6 camper to continue our travels in South America and while everything is pretty straightforward, I do have a question regarding the extending steps on the back. Previous owners - and I have seen one other do it - just collapsed the steps and put a loop of steel cable around them with a padlock and travelled with them swinging back and forth. Another owner at least used a ratchet strap to snug them back firmly against the back of the camper.
Given the long stretches of pretty terrible roads here, my inclination is to take them off and store them in the basement to avoid stressing the support bracket.
Any thoughts please.
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Also - my stairs have 5 treads and are all-aluminium construction and are now quite distorted with the bottom step tilted towards the front and the top one tilted badly towards the back - and of course the middle step is roughly level. All the pivot points are nice and firm, but the extension is uneven top to bottom causing the variation in tread angle.
Is this just a basic design deficiency that doesn't take account of corpulent owners clomping up and down over the years, or has it suffered a once-off damage caused by a forgetful owner driving off with it still extended.
Given the long stretches of pretty terrible roads here, my inclination is to take them off and store them in the basement to avoid stressing the support bracket.
Any thoughts please.
------------------------
Also - my stairs have 5 treads and are all-aluminium construction and are now quite distorted with the bottom step tilted towards the front and the top one tilted badly towards the back - and of course the middle step is roughly level. All the pivot points are nice and firm, but the extension is uneven top to bottom causing the variation in tread angle.
Is this just a basic design deficiency that doesn't take account of corpulent owners clomping up and down over the years, or has it suffered a once-off damage caused by a forgetful owner driving off with it still extended.
