The step has slowly been developing a droop on one side (LHS when facing the door). The increase in the degree of droop has speeded up of late. Whilst on site I had a grovel underneath, thinking that one or more boltholes might be wearing. Checked them all for tightness - nothing loose. Now we are home I had a closer look this morning and to my dismay found the cause - a cracked support. See photos below. Neither of us are particularly heavy (both in the 70 to 75kg bracket. 11 to 12 stone in old money).

Anyone any idea what a replacement step & labour is likely to be? Obviously I could just leave the step retracted and use the plastic step we still have from previous caravans, but the integral step is a very convenient feature of the Eriba.

if welding cannot be done at a reasonable price
remove step, straighten the bent bit and bolt on some 90 degree angle iron, which may be located in you local destroy it yourself place.:-)

Unfortunately the whole assembly is held in place by large rivets, not bolts. :( The location of some of these will make it difficult to drill them out. In the additional photo (below), it looks like the original crack emanates from one such rivet and a clumsy attempt made to repair it. As we have had the caravan from new, this must have been done to correct the problem during build (I can't imagine A.L. doing this during a previous service - they would surely have mentioned it).

O M G We’ve got a step going like this, got to go and take a look......

will this be still under warranty? you wouldn't expect this to crack
a step cannot be misused can it?, the rivets suggest a factory fit part.
those rivets will be hard to drill out with the centres in.
perhaps send the pictures to your eriba service people to investigate..

Just been to van and checked our step, fine although we never use it as have Milenco Step on ground. While there and sitting at front dinette managed to break the bottom locker handle!!! Went to swing the door up and it came away from the piano hinge!! Upon inspection the hinge was completely rusty and jammed up hence the door came away. So new handle and hinge required

Are you sure there isn't a bolt head on the other side of those "rivets"? They look pretty big for rivets (about the size used on theTitanic). The disks may actually be welded on nuts.

Thanks for the further responses/suggestions. Definitely not captive nuts - unfortunately!
Have to say that at over seventy years old my days of grovelling under a chassis are somewhat behind me. I'll email the photos (and those of the problematic roof) to A.L. today so that a discussion with Hymer can be initiated regarding the way the step was fitted and (hopefully) a way forward can be found.

Just had a look at mine and agree they are just rivets. I am surprised that Eriba have used rivets here rather than a proper nut and bolt, although this shouldn't affect the bracket. It looks to me as if the construction of the bracket is the problem. The corner where the 2 folds coincide looks ripe for a fatigue related crack to occur. A triangle welded across the angle would be so much stronger.

step.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)