Lets see your tow mirrors. '69 K20 needs your ideas.

[blazerboy_4life]

I just picked up '69 K20 and I wanna put some good tow mirrors on it. I'm looking for anything that isn't the tripod style or 4 point mount. What have you guys done? My plans are for this truck to ultimately replace my '03 2500HD. Thanks in advance.

[SS Tim]

That leaves out most of the factory styles.

You could always use a Jr West Coast style two point or the full on DG5 West Coast mirrors with lots of points. :-)
Finally for a wide factory mirror there were the C30 flyswatters, long single arm and about usless.
Don't mean to make light of your request but most of the good choices for towing were eliminated. Tripods are good for most trailers and the camper (four point) swing out for the largest and widest trailers.

How high and wide of a trailer do you need to see around?
Late mirrors tend to look out of place and even the square body aero mirrors that many use sit at an awkward angle on a 67-72.

[Saclandman]

Here's what I have on my 67 C20.

[blazerboy_4life]

I know that makes it difficult. Here's a pic of what's on there now. I think they are Ford mirrors? For now I have a 16ft bobcat trailer and this truck is the tallest thing that's been on it so far but down the road I plan on a 20 ft enclosed car trailer. I'll have to look into the c30 option but the goal of this truck like my last one is going to be to simplify and clean up any unnecessary equipment, mount holes, body lines, or anything else that causes rust or unnecessarily shortens the life span of this truck.

[SS Tim]

While I know this a real problem for you the flyswatters are not a solution. Looked for half an hour through my pictures and can't find more than bracket pictures. Finding a good usable set will be very difficult plus they are not that usable in that they vibrate badly.

Understand about the rust issue but for moderate to limited towing I think the camper four points are the best choice. Most car trailers here go 96" wide and they push 102" (its fun walking around Willow Springs Raceway pits).
For a full timer I'd jump up to the DG5 West Coast or a current bubble back aftermarket style that is similar with heated heads even.

[SS Tim]

Found some flyswatter pics and a really nice DG5 pickup

[slomotion]

Here's a couple photos. One with full west coast, and the other with the west coast jr's. I switch them up every once in a while just for a change.

[special-K]

I use the factory mirrors for the year of the truck. Sounds like that's out for you. Not sure there is anything left worth it's salt. My favorites are the 67/68 RV Jrs. I'd use those on a later truck I wasn't concerned with proper for year on. Just plain cool li'l trucker morrors

[yfs200p]

I struggled with this same problem. I ended up going with the "DG4 Below Eyeline" mirrors. I think they are a happy medium between the useless sport mirrors and the big honkey swing out tripod ones. Here's a picture stolen from somewhere else, they came painted or stainless.

[72MARIO]

I went with the correct 67-68 Jr's They are a horrible blind spot IMO. Really wish I went with the Below Eye line 71-72 mirrors

[jocko]

Did you state above that camper mirrors are out of the running?

[blazerboy_4life]

Those all look great. I especially like the look of the flat beds with that mirror set up. For my situation I just want something simpler. The flyswatters seem closest to whats in my head but even they aren't right. Has anybody done anything custom or fabricated? I'm sure this is almost completely unrealistic but Nothing would make me happier than to have no holes in the door. From my research that's impossible with towing mirrors.

[Sicklajoie]

The flyswatters would be useless at speed with all the vibration.
I think #3 or #10 would be the best bet for what you're looking for, with some kind of stick-on convex mirror to put on the bottom to eliminate most of your blindspots.

[chaztruett]

Originally Posted by slomotion

Here's a couple photos. One with full west coast, and the other with the west coast jr's. I switch them up every once in a while just for a change.

Love the look of your truck, bought the same mirrors. Hoping to see close up detail of how you fastened to door.

Thanks!!!

[NorCalC20LWB]

This is what the PO put on mine, no idea what kind they are. I moved then in to the the attachment closest to the doors so I can fit in my single car garage door.

[CG]

Well this is an old thread, but since it came to the top =) I was thinking if I ever got my panel on the road I might want to tow something with it, but because of styling I didn't want big horking mirrors on it full time. I found a set of those mirrors that mount on the wheel well and sort of under the hood ... mount them when you need em.

Did a quick google search ... here is a newer style set. The ones I picked up are more period.

[special-K]

There is just nothing better than what GM put on these trucks. They put all the thought into these and offered options to cover the needs trucks were bought for. The 3-point styles came about as a safety improvement... to eliminate the total blind spot created by West Coast mirrors. Hence the name "Below Eyeline". Those are excellent mirrors and all a driver has to do is look fore and aft before pulling. Truckers do this to this day. The same as what you have to do with some of these fat A-pillars on newer trucks.

Any other mirror looks cheap, especially those generic Ford-style mirrors. I call those K-Mart mirrors. They were always the common I just need a mirror replacement.

[greedy geezer]

Behind my big head stainless with a fish eye

[slomotion]

Originally Posted by chaztruett

Love the look of your truck, bought the same mirrors. Hoping to see close up detail of how you fastened to door.

Thanks!!!

Thank you!
What these started out as were full sized big truck mirrors. The arms are adjustable length-wise (the two collars about the middle). The biggest problem I had was the length of the bottom leg that attaches to the door below the window. Big truck doors are virtually flat where our's flair out about 2". I sectioned the bottom of the bracket the required distance so the outward mirror bracket was vertical. The mirror bracket is held by two "L" brackets; one above the window, and one on the door skin. I drilled two holes for each bracket and bolted them to the door. I did use a back up piece inside the door skin to distribute the load so the skin didn't distort.
After shortening the bottom horizontal section, and adjusting the vertical part of the bracket bolted it to the "L" pieces. (These "L"'s did have to be bent slightly to allow the bracket arms to fit because of the angled contours of the doors.)
There's a lot of thoughts about drilling holes in panels. I think some of the owners would give the truck a shot of Novocain so it didn't hurt as bad. These holes are not a death-sentence to the truck, sometimes they're necessary.
I drove trucks for a living for a while, and yes, the big mirrors create a blind spot. You learn to deal with that and compensate by waiting the two seconds it may take for something to come out of it, or, lean forward or back and look around them.

[davepl]

Behold, the Ultimate Mirror: Chromed West Coast Seniors. I think there could be no better mirror for a 3500.

(Runner up: stainless West Coast Jrs)

[slomotion]

Originally Posted by davepl

Behold, the Ultimate Mirror: Chromed West Coast Seniors. I think there could be no better mirror for a 3500.

(Runner up: stainless West Coast Jrs)

Wait........let me get my shades

[davepl]

These (the WC Sr) are actually pretty functional as well, as they sure extend a long way if you want them to. I have them tucked in fairly tight as I'm not towing, but if you extend the swing arm and slide the mirror out to the end of it, you've got two massive wings out there!

They're so big they're actually a bit of a blind spot looking forward.

[chaztruett]

Originally Posted by slomotion

Thank you!
What these started out as were full sized big truck mirrors. The arms are adjustable length-wise (the two collars about the middle). The biggest problem I had was the length of the bottom leg that attaches to the door below the window. Big truck doors are virtually flat where our's flair out about 2". I sectioned the bottom of the bracket the required distance so the outward mirror bracket was vertical. The mirror bracket is held by two "L" brackets; one above the window, and one on the door skin. I drilled two holes for each bracket and bolted them to the door. I did use a back up piece inside the door skin to distribute the load so the skin didn't distort.
After shortening the bottom horizontal section, and adjusting the vertical part of the bracket bolted it to the "L" pieces. (These "L"'s did have to be bent slightly to allow the bracket arms to fit because of the angled contours of the doors.)
There's a lot of thoughts about drilling holes in panels. I think some of the owners would give the truck a shot of Novocain so it didn't hurt as bad. These holes are not a death-sentence to the truck, sometimes they're necessary.
I drove trucks for a living for a while, and yes, the big mirrors create a blind spot. You learn to deal with that and compensate by waiting the two seconds it may take for something to come out of it, or, lean forward or back and look around them.

Awesome! Thank you so much for all the trouble! I hate to reinvent the wheel, if I can cheat off someone, I will ! Thanks again!!! tt

[El Dorado Jim]

Originally Posted by yfs200p

I struggled with this same problem. I ended up going with the "DG4 Below Eyeline" mirrors. I think they are a happy medium between the useless sport mirrors and the big honkey swing out tripod ones. Here's a picture stolen from somewhere else, they came painted or stainless.

I used the same mirrors,but I used the stainless ones, Like you said, a good happy medium, beautiful truck by the way!

[El Dorado Jim]

Originally Posted by greedy geezer

Behind my big head stainless with a fish eye

these are what I am using!