What did you do to your truck today? Chapter II

[colgad]

Originally Posted by mike16

I just installed a Pair of left and right side rear view mirrors on my 72 C-10 I was soooo frustrated I had to walk away. after a while, I just stopped working on them about every 30 minutes and took a break whether I needed it or not OMG! the passenger side took about 3 hours to do, the drivers side only about an hour.

Now I know why the big west coast mirrors and californication mirrors are installed from the dealer. real easy to drill out a small hole then chase it with self tapping sheet metal screws

my recommendation if you go with the factory standard mirrors on your 72 is to get a second set of hands to hold the inner reinforcing plate while you start the self tapping screws. Smaller hands are better because they can reach into a tighter place to hold that reinforcing plate from the few small access holes on the inside of the doors and when that plate is dropped inside the door, 10-15 times, a small hand and arm can reach deeper into the door to retrieve the plate and those very valuable factory sheet metal screws. and happy meals are cheap. You will know what I'm taking about when you get there. don't leave a broom handle or coat hangar inside the door as you will have to remove the door panel to retrieve it (them)when you begin the other door. Small hands will eliminate the need to use a coat hangar or broom handle to begin with.

The screws that come with the new repro mirrors are junk, some sort of stainless drywall screws. WTF? for 40 bucks each you think they would do the right thing with the correct screws, the rest of the mirror is pretty good, why go cheap on 40 cents worth of screws.

So.... keep your old fasteners as they are better, used, then the others are new. If you dont have an old set of screws, wait until you find a set of 8, 6 plus two spares. I'm betting on Corvette vendors for a set of the good quality correct screws. wait to get them rather than go through heck twice. The old used screws are a ferritic stainless steel so they too can be retrieved with a magnet.

You will also need that funny tool to remove the inside door handles, and it might be a good idea to get a few, 4 , extra door handle clips as those clips seem to fly off in every direction when you remove them.

It looks nice when done, I got my mirrors from Chevy Duty or what ever its called now. I like them a little more every day I walk past them but Damn it there was no love for about a whole day after the job was done. get some extra little hands to help out, Think happy meal.

the mirrors are very tightly mounted to the bracket.....for a good reason and should not be casually adjusted to accomodate various drivers. Mount them, adjust them and warn others NOT to adjust them further, as they may become loose and flop around. Also they are tight for a reason and should not be lubed to facilitate initial adjustment or they will eventually become loose again and flop around.

I dont think you will want to go through the routine(?) of doing these mirrors twice or more so take my advice

After all that work we need a photo or two