Fold down entry step: Length??

[Chief_Bob]

We are looking at new fifth wheels, some of which come with the new hinged entry steps that fold up in one piece, into the doorway of the rig, behind the door. We park our rig in a large garage and I realized, after we left the dealers, that the step may not clear the garage sidewall when it folds down. Does anyone out there have this on your rig where you can measure how far out it extends from the side of the rig when it is parallel from the ground as it folds down?

Thanks

[waltbennett]

Lantley wrote:

I see them as a big scoop ready to dump debris into the trailer when you fold them in. If they are wet you will have to dry them before putting them in.
Yes you could sweep them each and every time you fold them, but I'm not looking for more breakdown task.
Lastly 1 piece steps block the door. I often set a cooler or other cargo just inside the door when loading up. The one piece stair will block entry unless they are down. Which means steps are in the way when trying to set a heavy cooler in the RV.

Agree, especially about blocking the door. It hasn't happened often, but every once in a while one needs to get inside without putting the steps down all the way. With the fold down, I can either climb straight in without unfolding, or just unfold the first step and go in. With these, they've got to be all the way out. As someone else said, great for full-timing and not moving much, not so great for traveling a lot.

[mx727]

We had zero issues getting the steps out when fueling up this past week. As far as your rig Lantley, if the door doesn't open 180 degrees, these steps don't work anyway. You have to have that door fully out of the way to get the steps up.

So, the stairs aren't even an option for you and those that have them can come in from the side.

[Lantley]

fj12ryder wrote:

Lantley wrote:
THOse one piece stepn are growing in popularity. Mor Ryde makes a version as well.
I see them as a big scoop ready to dump debris into the trailer when you fold them in. If they are wet you will have to dry them before putting them in.
Yes you could sweep them each and every time you fold them, but I'm not looking for more breakdown task.
Lastly 1 piece steps block the door. I often set a cooler or other cargo just inside the door when loading up. The one piece stair will block entry unless they are down. Which means steps are in the way when trying to set a heavy cooler in the RV.
I saw enough of them to determine they were not for me. I still prefer my GSR step. They remain outside at all times, which is where a set of exterior steps should be.

I hadn't considered the cons that you've mentioned but those would be a real concern. I know our steps get really cruddy at time, and really sandy if at the beach. Making sure they get cleaned good every time would be kind of a pain.

A sandy terrain or beach campsite would really pose an added interior cleaning challenge.

[Lantley]

ChuckV1 wrote:
We have the Mor Ryde steps and love them, the bottom can be adjusted to either shorten or lengthen the angle of the steps.

As far having them down and putting a cooler near the door I'm 71 years old and have no problem, the way I look at it is you have to lift it up any to put get it into the door and all I do is come at the steps from the side an shove it into the door...

It takes me about 2 minutes to sweep off the steps with a broom and about 4 or 5 minutes to wipe them off if wet .... If your in that much of a hurry to pack up I feel sorry for you, my average is about 30 to 45 minutes from start to pulling out, so whats an extra 5 or even 10 minutes ...

Let's talk about that cooler and coming in from the side.
On the left side I have a slide out and extended door handle. On the right side is my door. My door does not open past 90 degrees and blocks access from the right.
Stepping around the stairs in the down position is not that easy with my rig.
In the end I prefer steps that stay outside. The added sweeping and wiping are a deal breaker for me.

[fj12ryder]

I don't think it's the "hurry-up" part of the equation as much as it's just one more chore to do that is only necessary with that particular type of step. Who voluntarily wants to add more things to do? I'm looking for ways to get out of more work. 🙂

[ChuckV1]

We have the Mor Ryde steps and love them, the bottom can be adjusted to either shorten or lengthen the angle of the steps.

As far having them down and putting a cooler near the door I'm 71 years old and have no problem, the way I look at it is you have to lift it up any to put get it into the door and all I do is come at the steps from the side an shove it into the door...

It takes me about 2 minutes to sweep off the steps with a broom and about 4 or 5 minutes to wipe them off if wet .... If your in that much of a hurry to pack up I feel sorry for you, my average is about 30 to 45 minutes from start to pulling out, so whats an extra 5 or even 10 minutes ...

[RainbowsEnd]

x2 I wish they'd unhinge and slide underneath. Sort of like how some of the spare tires work. These steps work great, sturdy etc but I have also heard of the mess. The older I get the harder it is to use this type of step. However, we don't have them on ours but have used them. I don't like anything that both of us can't setup and use as you never know when it's up to just one. Just understand your own limitations or not, and go for it!

Lantley wrote:
THOse one piece stepn are growing in popularity. Mor Ryde makes a version as well.
I see them as a big scoop ready to dump debris into the trailer when you fold them in. If they are wet you will have to dry them before putting them in.
Yes you could sweep them each and every time you fold them, but I'm not looking for more breakdown task.
Lastly 1 piece steps block the door. I often set a cooler or other cargo just inside the door when loading up. The one piece stair will block entry unless they are down. Which means steps are in the way when trying to set a heavy cooler in the RV.
I saw enough of them to determine they were not for me. I still prefer my GSR step. They remain outside at all times, which is where a set of exterior steps should be.

[tinner12002]

Mor-Ryde makes and sells them.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

IMO - the MorRyde "StepAbove" entry steps appear to be more substantial,
as well as offering an optional guide rail.

However, either product would have the same "problems" with dirt/sand/debris on the stairs requiring a dust-off before folding to the interior.

~

[FLY_4_FUN]

dupe post

[FLY_4_FUN]

I wonder if the next generation stairs will clip on like ATV ramps onto a flatbed. Still would need somewhere to "hang" them on the 5er frame, but at least they wouldn't be messing up the interior.

Off to research for my patent....

Daryll

[fj12ryder]

Lantley wrote:
THOse one piece stepn are growing in popularity. Mor Ryde makes a version as well.
I see them as a big scoop ready to dump debris into the trailer when you fold them in. If they are wet you will have to dry them before putting them in.
Yes you could sweep them each and every time you fold them, but I'm not looking for more breakdown task.
Lastly 1 piece steps block the door. I often set a cooler or other cargo just inside the door when loading up. The one piece stair will block entry unless they are down. Which means steps are in the way when trying to set a heavy cooler in the RV.
I saw enough of them to determine they were not for me. I still prefer my GSR step. They remain outside at all times, which is where a set of exterior steps should be.

I hadn't considered the cons that you've mentioned but those would be a real concern. I know our steps get really cruddy at time, and really sandy if at the beach. Making sure they get cleaned good every time would be kind of a pain.

[fj12ryder]

Durb wrote:
I've seen these at RV shows and thought they would be great for a full timer, not so much for general use. Keep in mind the length of the side rails would be the sum of the hypotenuse of the run and the rise triangle. The ones I saw looked to be about 4 feet.

An addendum here. These things pivot from the floor not the bottom of the floor joists. The floor on my 5er is at 38" and I have a medium weight unit unlike the the heavy duty rigs I saw them installed on. If the angle of the rails when down is 45 degrees the length of the rail will be the floor height times the square root of 2 (1.414). In my case the rail would be 53". Deduct a couple of inches for the foot design.

Granted I've been out of school a lot of years but I'm kind of confused with this statement: "...the length of the side rails would be the sum of the hypotenuse of the run and the rise triangle." I think the length of the side rails would be the hypotenuse with the two legs being the rise and run. But since we don't know either the rise or the run, or the angle AFATG, it's pretty much impossible to know the hypotenuse. Just too many unknown variables.

[Chief_Bob]

Thanks all!