How to mount stairs to old Lance?

[dm810910410]

Hello everyone. I have a 2000 Lance 810 and I’m wondering if anyone has mounted removable steps/ stairs (torklift glow steps etc) and if so how do you mount them. On the 810 there is only about a quarter inch of aluminum below the door frame so not really sure what they would mount to. Getting ready to go on our first trip in about a month and need to find a solution as the TC sits quite high due to a slight lift on my truck (2 inch above stock in rear on 05 F350, SRW 4x4). Any suggestions or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[dm810910410]

@Grit Dog, Thank you!
@BigSwick, correct, tiedowns are not installed in the pictures.
@stevenal, thank you for the suggestions. I figured the 2x12’s were overkill and May move to something smaller in the future. As for the potential slip area I did add grip tape to the top of the 2x’s. Been on 5 trips now over some pretty rough roads and haven’t seen any movement. If I do run into a slipping issue I’ll look into adding another mat between the wood and the camper bottom.

Couple more pics of the camper in its element with the tie downs installed.

[stevenal]

Thanks for the update. Always nice to hear back.
A few suggestions:
2X12s are heavy. I use 2X6s to get cab clearance, and these have proved sufficient.
If the purpose of the mat is to prevent camper movement, you now have another potential slip area between 2Xs and camper. I use a second mat above the 2Xs.

[BigSwick]

Man, that camper is one tight fit in the bed! Are you using some kind of "hidden" tie downs, or do you not have them installed in the pics?

[Grit_dog]

Nice looking setup! Looks tough! The steps too, lol.

[dm810910410]

Just wanted to update this post in case anyone else ever needs options for mounting stairs. I ended up mounting the stairs to a 2x12 that the truck camper sits on. I added 3x 2x12’s on top of a bed mat to get the needed height to clear my cab. Mounted the C shaped stairs mount with 6x 3inch lag screws to the 2x12 at the back of the truck. Turned out very well and stairs are quite stable. When on the road I pull the pins and store the stairs inside the camper. Stairs are the TorkLift GlowSteps

[NCMike]

Our Lance 865 does not have a basement, as I understand what a basement on a truck camper is...

[mkirsch]

That's a basement model camper, completely different from the OP's.

You're going to have to look underneath and see if you can add some structure bolted up through the floor to hang the ladder from.

[NCMike]

They are made by Brophy, I ordered them through e-trailer. We have been very pleased with them.

[notsobigjoe]

NCMike wrote:
Hi-Our 2014 Lance 865 is a bit different than your camper, but here is what we did. The steps that came with our camper were too short when the camper is on the truck. We tried a portable ladder but we boondock a lot and they never seemed stable enough. I removed the stock, folding two-step configuration and added a folding four-step unit to the camper. I bolted it thought the threshold and the floor of the camper. When not in use, it is held out of the way by a chain. Your camper does not have an alcove for steps like our camper does but perhaps something similar might work for you.

This is how they should do it on every single truck camper. When deployed it's great and when retracted it's completely out of the way. JMHO

[VTLee]

What is the brand name of the 4 step unit?

[dm810910410]

Thank you for the replies!

[NCMike]

Hi-Our 2014 Lance 865 is a bit different than your camper, but here is what we did. The steps that came with our camper were too short when the camper is on the truck. We tried a portable ladder but we boondock a lot and they never seemed stable enough. I removed the stock, folding two-step configuration and added a folding four-step unit to the camper. I bolted it thought the threshold and the floor of the camper. When not in use, it is held out of the way by a chain. Your camper does not have an alcove for steps like our camper does but perhaps something similar might work for you.

[wnjj]

Get a decent sized plate of aluminum and bend the edge over. Mount it to the bottom side of the camper with the bent edge hanging down (or maybe just set the camper down onto it when you load up). Attach the stairs to the bent over edge.

[dm810910410]

At the moment all I have is this side angle shot. I will get better pictures tomorrow.