https://imgur.com/a/fXKLrDL The base piece broke off from the mirror itself and was seized up. I've managed to get it unstuck with some bicycle lube but it's still very hard to rotate. I can see how to epoxy this back together, but I'd really like to remove the whole mirror first so I can make sure the base piece is truly freed up and moves smoothly through its full travel. If I just epoxy it now, it'll probably snap off the second anything pushes on it. Any tips? I can't see any obvious way to take it apart or take it off.
theres a plastic panel that pulls off the inside of the door, under it is 3 phillips screws holding the mirror. 2 minutes to remove it when mine busted i tried screws, JB weld etc but nothing would hold it so i ended up replacing them. you have the hard to find California style mirrors which are hard to find
In addition to the three screws behind the plastic "sail" panel on the door, there is also a 10mm acorn nut at the top. As for where it broke.. it is metal there, is it not? Or is it some fiber reinforced plastic? Either way, I think epoxy will not last very long. I do have an extra set of van mirrors for sale on eBay right now.. they are chrome instead of black though.
It's metal. Looks like cast aluminum. You are probably right that it won't last very long. I'm trying to loosen up the hinge joint as much as possible before I glue it to limit the amount of force the epoxy has to hold. I will probably also use some of the steel-reinforced epoxy putty rather than the two-part liquid stuff since I can mold it around the outside of the part as well to add more strength.
It does look like cast aluminum. I bet you could send the two parts and have someone 3D print up a new one or 3 out of plastic pretty cheap if you can't find a replacement.
I have two 3D printers at home and work full-time on 3D printing technology, actually, so I might know a guy.
Well, the steel epoxy didn't hold even a little bit. I might have to take Mr. Krenicki up on his eBay listing. I have some regular epoxy on it now, if it can just hold in the regular position then I can tolerate it for a bit until I get a replacement.
Is it possible to remove the mirror itself from the housing? I can see a ton of phillips head screws behind it that are all blocked by the mirror. It seems like they snapped the mirror into the housing as the last step during initial assembly and it was not designed to ever come back apart.
I do not know if they can, I never tried.. but I do agree that they sort of look like they were never intended to come back apart.
I ended up putting it back together and adding a strategic zip tie near the bottom to keep the mirror from folding back against the door, and then jacked the mirror all the way outward on its pivot. Now the mirror is in a usable orientation and has stayed put. So it's a band-aid, but for now I've fixed it for effectively $0.
