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166FBS step replacement
The Micros mostly come with 2-step entries, while a few come with 3-step. Hard to know if that's a supply chain issue, or what. Mine came with 2-step. I replaced with 3-step today, which is all about ease of access for my wife with strength and balance issues. Besides being less of an incline, as side rail is available for the 3-step, but not the 2-step. That is on order.
MorRyde makes multiple versions of these steps. On the 166FBS, the step is designed for a narrower door, with a moving bracket added for the door side of the opening. This is necessary because the door does not fully open on a 166. I haven't seen one in person, but I think the 171 and 199 have the wider version of the steps.
I gambled that I could remove the latch mechanism and install on the new one, and that turned out to be correct. Installation was a snap, about 20 minutes, with much of that moving the latch.
The two-step model for the narrow door is MorRyde part STP-201, and the three step is STP-204. There is another narrow 3-step, STP-203, but that definitely wouldn't work as it is another 4 inches taller.
The second gamble is that I won't find myself in a situation where the tongue is high enough, or the left right slope is uphill enough, to make the step unable to be fully deployed, which would make the door unclosable. There is at least one 199 owner who went from 3-step to 2-step for exactly that reason. The gamble is that the short distance back from the fulcrum (the axle in this case) will make the problem less likely to occur than it would on a 199. Only time will tell. In the pictures, the driveway slopes a bit up to the tongue, and also left to right, so the left tire (not seen) is on the ground, while the right tire is up about 1 inch. Both of those slopes work in favor of the 3-step, and of course I can't be sure that I will never run into a problem.
I carry a pair of those curved levelers (when the tire is on the ground I use ordinary chocks), so again gambling that the up to 4 inches I can raise the axle will work out.
I would be very interested in hearing from those that have a 166 with 3-step to know if they have had problems.
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2022 Jay Feather Micro 166FBS
2019 F150 SuperCrew Short Bed 2.7L
Andersen WDH, 1000 lb Sumo Springs
Past: 2015 Winnebago View, 2004 Blue Bird M380, 1990 Blue Bird WB40, 2003 Safari Zanzibar, 1998 Safari Sahara
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