Mechanos

My '03+ power/heated mirror showed up today... so when I got home, I promptly got to work on them (after I mowed the lawn ). I read a write up on the procedure that states to pry the teeth on the retainer clip out of their groove and when you get the last one out, the retainer and spring will "pop out" allowing you to seperate the base from the mirror head.

Well, let's just say that is quite the understatement. When I got that last tooth out, the spring and retainer shot out of there like a rocket!! It was so fast, that I didn't even see it... I was prying on the last tooth and the next thing I know, the parts are bouncing off the ceiling and rain back down on me!!!! Put a nice little dent in the sheetrock too. So, if anyone else is doing this, be careful, don't hover over the spring while your prying on the retainer and wouldn't hurt anthing to wear some safety glasses either.

d0dg301

Mechanos,
I am very interested in some factory electric tow mirrors. If you get the new ones mounted on your truck You will have to post the out come and tell exactly how you did it. If it works I will be putting a set on my truck as well.
Good luck and keep us posted.

Mechanos

There is no IF about it. With the $$$ I shelled out for 2nd gen tow mirrors AND a set of 3rd gen power/heated tow mirrors, they WILL be put on.

After nearly taking my head off with dismantling the first mirror (which took a long time, by the way, since I wasn't sure what I was doing and didn't want to FUBAR one), I learned a thing or two. I set down with the second one and dismantled it in a fraction of the time. Armed with the proper PPG's (safety glasses, leather gloves and more knowledge about what I was doing) the second one was a piece of cake and the spring only shot up a couple feet in the air (and I didn't soil another pair of pants).

I need to remove the 2nd gen. mirrors from my truck before I can continue.... just might have this whole thing done by the end of the weekend with the other stuff I've got going on.

What would be very helpful is the 3rd gen. wiring color codes for the wire harness in the mirror. They are different colors than the 2nd gen. power mirror harness. Here is a link to a .pdf file for the 2nd gen. connector pinouts... if someone with a 3rd gen. factory service manual could look up the corresponding info and post it up... that would be a big help.

d0dg301

What is the difference between 2nd and 3rd gen. truck mirrors? I believe that the 02 truck tow mirrors had heated and power ones. My buddy has an 04 and I do really like his mirrors. I just need some on my truck though.

BIGBADBOB

I have the ****'s shown by firestorm from Genos. The are real nice. Have had them for 2 years. One problem the passenger side developed a bad vibration and the drivers side picked up a little vibration. The company that originly manufactured them went broke. Them new manufaturer went good for 1/2 cost of replacing both glasses. The vibration was a know problem and the new ones have tabs inside to stop vibration. A lot of money for these $805 canadian taxes in. The replacement glasses were $80 for both.

Mechanos

OK... one more time from the top. A 2002 1500 is a 3rg generation body style. 2003 on up is is 3rd gen. 1994 to 2001 1500's are 2nd gen. 1994 to 2002 2500/3500 are 2nd gen.... 2003 on up is 3rd gen.

2nd gen's came with tow mirrors....but manual only. 3rd gen's came with manual or power/heated tow mirrors. You can't simply bolt 3rd gen mirrors onto a 2nd gen door.... they don't fit. You have to take the power/heated 3rd gen mirror head and put it on the 2nd gen base to make a hybrid... then you can bolt them on your door.

You have to have the 2nd tow mirror bases.... and since you can't buy them seperately, you have to buy a set of 2nd gen tow mirrors to get them. You have to have 3rd gen power/heated mirror heads... and since you can't buy them seperately, you have to buy a set of 3rd gen power/heated tow mirrors. Then do the swap and figure out what the heck to do with the left overs.

d0dg301

A 2002 1500 is a 3rg generation body style. 2003 on up is is 3rd gen.


Not sure about that statement but I am starting to catch on about what a big job this is. Will have to start checking ebay for some mirrors.

Mechanos

One side done!! Since the passenger side is the biggest pain in the butt to adjust by oneself, I did the swap on the passenger side first. Took me about 3 hours to convert the passenger side... and that included taking the 2nd gen. mirror/base off the truck and dismantling it, making a spring compressor tool to reassemble the power/heated head to the 2nd gen base, and figuring out the wiring, splicing and reinstalling the mirror on the truck.

I would imagine that the other side could probably be done in 2 hours or under now that I know exactly what I'm up against. But that will have to wait 'till tomorrow.... have to take care of some other things today as well.

It is just too dang slick how up is still up, etc. even when you flip the mirror up 90°.

m batterson

mechanos,
what did you make for a spring compression tool?
i am waiting for UPS to deliver my 3rd gen mirrors so i can start the swap.

mike

Mechanos

I just typed a lengthy response and hit submit.... the server hic-upped and when I hit the back button, everything I typed was gone. Sorry.... I don't feel like typing it out again. I do have a couple pics that I will post up tomorrow. In this case... a pic really is worth a thousands words....

torquefan

Mechanos, I think you have stumbled onto something good, and you need to go into business making tow mirrors for all of us.

Mechanos

If you are reasonably mechanically inclined and have some tools, it's not that hard to do the swap. If I were to "go into business" doing these conversions.... they would have to be pretty pricey to cover the cost of two sets of mirrors and my time. I think at the moment, anyway, this is better left as a DIY'er type project.

Mechanos

Driver side done.... took about 1.5 hours start to finish. Man it's amazing how use to the creature comforts one becomes. I've had power mirrors on every vechicle I've owned for at least the last ten years. When I put on the 2nd gen tow manual mirrors, it was like my left arm was missing. All better now.... I'm working on the pics so just be patient........

Here are a couple pics of the spring compressor I made based on the one I saw in pics on the TDR site. Very simple.....

d0dg301

What is it that is different? are the mounting holes different from an 01 to 02? Just curious.
Mechanos, how did you make the electrical connections. Did you use a plug or just solder them direct. Or what?

Haulin_in_Dixie

The difference is between the second gen and the third gen. The 02 went to third gen for the 1500 and in 03 for the 2500 and 3500.