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Could/Should You Design a Folding Step That Deployed From a Car or Truck Wheel?

Or do I have designeritis?

By Rain Noe - October 24, 2018

For accessing the beds of pickup trucks, or even roof racks on cars, lots of companies make these simple, portable wheel steps:

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So I've been wondering: Would it be possible, or practical, to build this feature directly into the wheel itself? It would be a neat design challenge to create something that folded out of the hubcap, always stayed perfectly level and provided a wide, stable step.

Then again, maybe I'm suffering from designeritis. Companies like AMP Research already make aftermarket box-side steps, and perhaps those are the more practical solution, even if they provide a much smaller platform.

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Well, I'd still like to see someone develop a wheel-deployed variant, if only for designeritis sh*ts and giggles. If the step was wide and sturdy it would come in handy, and would be one less thing to have to carry in the vehicle itself.

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Could/Should You Design a Folding Step That Deployed From a Car or Truck Wheel?

Mark Thomas

a year ago

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Some trucks have hubs you can stand on with one foot, and step on top of the tire for greater height. It's like a built-in step ladder. My F250 is like this.

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Christopher Deusen

a year ago

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With my truck I just stand on the top of the tire.

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Louis Leblanc

a year ago

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The only way I can see it happening is if it's a hollow feature in the rim that allows you to put your foot inside.

A step that drops down seems dangerous/wasteful to put it inside the wheel. Adding rotating mass is usually not a good thing in car design as it means a lot of energy needs to be put in to get it spinning again. Slower acceleration, worse fuel millage. Balancing and failure of a hinge mechanism would be horrible too (or forgetting to bring the step back up).

It could be built into the paneling of the truck. I remember some trim packages of 2000 era F150s had a side step built in the paneling between the rear door and the rear wheel.

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JAMES UDING

a year ago

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I see this as being a bit dangerous design. Knowing how people get side tracked, it could be possible for someone to load something walk off to get something else to put in the cab and then drive off with the step attached and destroy it.

I doubt that you could easily make a step to integrate into the wheel considering the needs of the wheel to be removable and the balance of the wheel also. The box mount style step is much more safer and balanced.

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Rain Noe

I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.