November 12, 2020 - Another Little Marge Project

Our fifth wheel has three steps that fold underneath for travel. Here is a picture of them extended. 

They hang off the side of the rig when extended. Stepping on them causes the camper to shake and, since they are hinged in several places to fold up, they have a lot of "give" to them. Sometime back we bought two adjustable legs which are made to be put under the bottom stem for stability. Here is a picture of those supports. They can be adjusted for step height by moving the pin to different holes in the stem and by turning the top to screw it up or down for a firm fit.

While they do stabilize the steps they have been a problem for two reasons. One is that the bottom of the step is not flat so the round support is only resting on an area about a half inch in width.  Here is a picture. The red arrow shows the rounded ridge in the center of the bottom step. The supports rest on this alone.

The second problem is that we have installed rugs on the steps to help cut down on dirt carried into the camper by our shoes. The green arrow points to the wire ties hold the rug on the step. You can see that the rug is in the area where the supports would rest.

Because of these two issues the supports have trouble staying in place. I decided to make something with some scraps of wood to hopefully solve that problem. Here is a picture of the underside of what I came up with.

The supports sit in the round holes on the ends for maximum step stability. The board connecting the two square pieces keeps them from moving about under the step. Here is a picture of the piece ready to be installed.

I say "installed" but there is no installation. The board and supports are just placed under the bottom step and the height of the support adjusted for the terrain.  Here is a picture of the board in place.

If all works well. I will paint it to make it look nicer and to protect it from the elements. It is easy to store, we just throw the parts inside the door for easy access when we park.