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My Ranger has the "cheap" black plastic outside rear view mirrors. The driver side in particular "flaps" around in the slip stream like a flag. Trying to figure out if there is a way to "tighten up" or spread the swivel joint. There is a molded parting line and I thought I might be able to split it apart to get to swivel mechanism but no luck.
Does anyone know how to adjust this swivel to prevent condition?
The mirror will not spread apart without breaking it. I drilled the rivets out on mine and turned the metal piece under the ball joint upside down and screwed it back on. I've been up to 75 mph and the mirrors stayed in place. I can e-mail you a pic of what I did if you give me your e-mail address.
Don't know what you are referring to on drilling out the rivets. The whole assembly is sealed unless you mean unscrewing the "star" bolts from the door - not sure but don't think I can get to the mechanism from there.
Yes, you have to take out the torx screws to get the mirror off and get to the ball joint from there. For some reason it starred out the last part of your e-mail. Just type the word at the end without the .com and I'll take pictures and mail them to you tonight.
Don't know why it starred out the letters; they are: ***o everything else is the same.
When you take the Torx screws out is there a nut plate or mating part left in place - I don't want to have to take the inside panel off to find the little nuts.
The screw plate will not fall back into the door panel. I have had both of my mirrors off several times while I was experimenting with repair options.
The rivets are actually part of the pot metal casting on the bottom of the mirror. When you drill the centers of them out the metal plate that puts tension on the ball joint will come off. You then drill small holes down the center of the "rivet" posts and screw the plate back on upside down. I used short copper (rust proof) machine screws on mine. The pictures will tell the story better.