Which West Coast Mirrors?
Fleet Owner
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,678
Likes: 82
From: NorCal
Replacing the mirror head.... Before disassembly, apply packing tape to the mirror so the shards stay in place That way, you can use it to trace a piece of cardboard so the glass shop can cut and polish a new piece. Alternatively, provide them the broken mirror (now taped together front and back).
Soak the screws with PB Blaster or Kroil. Use a Phillips that fits the screw head really well and apply even pressure to unscrew them. Get stainless screws to avoid future rust issues.
Stripping paint.. if there is stainless steel under the paint. Get a pan and submerge them in brake fluid to soften the paint. It takes some patience but it won't hurt the base metal like some caustic removers will.
Hardware... head to Lowe's or Ace Hardware. They carry a good selection of stainless hardware including stainless acorn nuts.
The "gasket" material used on the clamps. I suggest cutting them out of a vinyl or hard plastic like from a report binder. Serendipity.. it's back to school time!
Soak the screws with PB Blaster or Kroil. Use a Phillips that fits the screw head really well and apply even pressure to unscrew them. Get stainless screws to avoid future rust issues.
Stripping paint.. if there is stainless steel under the paint. Get a pan and submerge them in brake fluid to soften the paint. It takes some patience but it won't hurt the base metal like some caustic removers will.
Hardware... head to Lowe's or Ace Hardware. They carry a good selection of stainless hardware including stainless acorn nuts.
The "gasket" material used on the clamps. I suggest cutting them out of a vinyl or hard plastic like from a report binder. Serendipity.. it's back to school time!
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More Turbo
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 540
Likes: 1
Thanks for the advice! I was going to disassemble the painted set and remove the mirrors so I could easily have a replacement or two made up for the stainless and a spare in the event I find another stainless head. I don't believe the painted set is stainless construction due to the amount of rust.... A friend has a commercial soda blaster and I'll ask him to blast the frames once the glass is out (he currently has the heat/rock shield for my auxilliary fuel tank for blasting on Monday). Soda won't touch the rust so that will require a bit of elbow grease. Easy enough... I have seen the selection at Lowe's and figured on replacing the (nylon?) washers that are crumbling at the pivot points. I still have to decide if I will mix and match the good. Mirrors onto the shorter stainless brackets. I like that they both fold as I have a tight squeeze to get this truck into the garage for mechanical efforts, so I suppose even the painted brackets would be fine.
Ford Parts Specialist
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 88,826
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From: Simi Valley, CA
CARPENTER NOS OBSOLETE PARTS in Concord NC has 4 = 800-476-9653.
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More Turbo
Joined: Jun 2012
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Here's what I ended up with. I used the stainless mounts and I had a friend soda blast them and the bracket clips to clean off the caulking someone had used to keep the mirrors from sliding.... I also had the painted mirror frames soda blasted after completely disassembling them (they turned out to be galvanized). I transplanted one of the intact mirrors into the stainless mirror housing after a good cleaning. I painted up one of the galvanized frames and both the wind deflectors with the Rustoleum Stainless Steel spray paint. I liked this because it is not a glossy finish and should reduce glare off the edges of the frame. I cleaned up the pivoting mechanism of all rust and reassembled them with some Tri Flow teflon lube. I noticed that the bracket mounts had been slipping previously so when I installed them I wrapped a piece of fine crocus cloth around the frame prior to clamping them tight. That in addition to the wind deflectors ought to keep the mirrors from slipping. They seem pretty stable right now.
Here's how it turned out:
Here's how it turned out:
Fleet Owner
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,678
Likes: 82
From: NorCal
Nice job.
I can't tell from the pics how those lil wind deflectors are mounted. Does it have tabs that slide under the arm clamps??
As luck would have it, Today I found a couple of rigs in the JY and made up a set of three-legged West Coast mirrors... gonna restore 'em and store 'em.
I can't tell from the pics how those lil wind deflectors are mounted. Does it have tabs that slide under the arm clamps??
As luck would have it, Today I found a couple of rigs in the JY and made up a set of three-legged West Coast mirrors... gonna restore 'em and store 'em.
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More Turbo
Joined: Jun 2012
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Yes. Tabs are held by the circular clamps. Here's a look:
I considered the three point. There is still the set down the street from me that I believe to be restorable although they are quite rough, but they stick out WAY to far for my purposes.
Here
I considered the three point. There is still the set down the street from me that I believe to be restorable although they are quite rough, but they stick out WAY to far for my purposes.
Here
Freshman User
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 31
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From: Erie, Pa
Here are the mirrors and brackets I found yesterday at "the gettin' place".
Painted set was from an Econoline. FoMoCo script at the bottom of the mirror clearly ID's them. Brackets extend out from the door a bit more than the stainless do (off a bump side) and are overall in better condition but the upper mounting point is different as I had noted. Mirrors are good and some adhesive remover ought to help remove that convex lens. I am leaning towards using these for now with the upper bracket attachment from the stainless set. I would paint them with Rustoleum "Stainless" spray paint which is a flat silver that rather closely resembles..... you guessed it: Stainless steel!
The stainless brackets are fair with some obvious signs the mirrors were "adjusted" up or down by noting zig zag scratches on the arms. I thought sanded or scratched stainless would rust?? The mirror itself isn't perfect either with a little denting and broken glass. It looks as if the mirror glass is easily replaced. Is that the case? Also, was there some sort of gasket material used between the clamps on the bracket arms to keep the mirrors static? The stainless ones have some sort of calk or adhesive on them, and at some point someone must have gotten sick of them slipping down the bar because they screwed through these clamps to hold them in place.
Painted set was from an Econoline. FoMoCo script at the bottom of the mirror clearly ID's them. Brackets extend out from the door a bit more than the stainless do (off a bump side) and are overall in better condition but the upper mounting point is different as I had noted. Mirrors are good and some adhesive remover ought to help remove that convex lens. I am leaning towards using these for now with the upper bracket attachment from the stainless set. I would paint them with Rustoleum "Stainless" spray paint which is a flat silver that rather closely resembles..... you guessed it: Stainless steel!
The stainless brackets are fair with some obvious signs the mirrors were "adjusted" up or down by noting zig zag scratches on the arms. I thought sanded or scratched stainless would rust?? The mirror itself isn't perfect either with a little denting and broken glass. It looks as if the mirror glass is easily replaced. Is that the case? Also, was there some sort of gasket material used between the clamps on the bracket arms to keep the mirrors static? The stainless ones have some sort of calk or adhesive on them, and at some point someone must have gotten sick of them slipping down the bar because they screwed through these clamps to hold them in place.
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