Treading Heavy

During my first and only camping outing so far, I had to bring a step ladder to get in and out of the camper. This was fine, but nagged me a little. If I go proper camping, i don't want a  step ladder taking up room and really, why not just incorporate something into my hitch receiver that is step ladder-ish?

Another thing the camper will have is an air conditioner. So before I finish the interior, I need to know where the air duct work will go, mostly the inlet and return. I figure the air conditioner and steps can all be part of the same thing.

My very first thought was to get a cargo carrier that goes into the receiver and then I can rig a simple step ladder onto it and toss an air conditioner on the side. It would be pretty simple and would't look too terrible. But being me, I was convinced I could do something better, cleaner and more awesome.

Plus, a carrier costs money and I have plenty of steel plate and tubing.

First, I drew up a set of steps in solidworks, and printed up a template in full scale. I couldn't fit the whole thing in 1 sheet, so I taped together a D size and a small A. Then I traced the pattern with a marker and later used a small cutoff tool to score the template into the steel itself.

Lots and lots of cutting later, I was able to liberate my steps. I went through 4 blades and a decent amount of oil. Made a mess, too.

Much lighter now, but still about 30 pounds, I guess, clamp the steps to the mill to get in the important features. The plate is about .38 inches thick. Beefy.

With my mill, I cut a slightly oversize 2" x 2" square hole to match the tube used in the receiver. I then went on to cut holes for the tube steel tread supports.

Scrap tube steel was pushed into the holes I cut in the step plate. With my meager welding skills, I ran some beads around the tubing and welded on some tread plates that were cut with a plasma cutter and bent on the sheet metal brake.

Almost done. Looks step-like.

decent clearance.  I'll cut the excess tube once I figure out how much I need for the A/C unit.

If the top step seems high, I'm hoping it'll make more sense when the camper is in. The step won't be level with the bed, but with the door of the camper.

Once I locate the final position, I'll mark the 2x2 tube and weld the step plate on. Since it was all fresh steel, after I cleaned the welds, I threw on some black primer. I then went on to paint the tread a nice safety yellow.

Update- Welded in place now