buzzman
Senior Member
I know there are numerous methods used to step in and out of the campers. I have seen several neat methods on this forum. Initially, to get in and out of our Grandby, we used a small plastic step on the ground (the yellow thing you see in the picture) along with the narrow step in the middle of the bumper. I applied some all weather anti skid tread tape I bought at Home Depot and that helped, but the step on the truck bumper was just too narrow to be comfortable. I thought about building a single, wider step, that could slip into the hitch receiver and be about the same level as the step down portion of the bumper. However, I found a scrap piece of 1/4" thick aluminum laying around and to keep things real simple I just bolted it to the step on the bumper. I rounded the corners and added a couple 2" wide anti skid strips and it seems to work fine. It over hangs the bumper about 3", so the whole step is about 6" wide. And I can leave it bolted to the bumper even when I'm pulling a trailer.
So here's some pictures of my simple mod to the rear bumper of my Chevy truck. My truck is a 2wd half ton, so the bumper is probably closer to the ground than some of 4wd, lifted trucks, that are used to haul these FWC/ATC campers. When unloaded, the step down portion of the bumper is about 19 1/2" above the ground and when loaded with the camper it sinks down about 2 1/2" to around 17" above ground. I also added a couple strips of anti skid tape to the top of the bumper because I noticed we sometimes step on that too and when wet it can be slippery. I offset the aluminum step a little toward the passenger side because the Grandby door is offset to the passenger side several inches. Haven't used it camping yet.
Buzz
So here's some pictures of my simple mod to the rear bumper of my Chevy truck. My truck is a 2wd half ton, so the bumper is probably closer to the ground than some of 4wd, lifted trucks, that are used to haul these FWC/ATC campers. When unloaded, the step down portion of the bumper is about 19 1/2" above the ground and when loaded with the camper it sinks down about 2 1/2" to around 17" above ground. I also added a couple strips of anti skid tape to the top of the bumper because I noticed we sometimes step on that too and when wet it can be slippery. I offset the aluminum step a little toward the passenger side because the Grandby door is offset to the passenger side several inches. Haven't used it camping yet.
Buzz
