Anybody have extentable mirrors on there van? I have a 01 E350 and tow a 32ft travel trailer. Is there a mirror that will bolt in place of the OEM's. I DO NOT want to drill holes in the doors to put a west coast style on. Just wondering if anyone has seen any or has some. Basicly I'm looking for something like whats on the F250's & 350's.Ones that pull out when needed and go back in when you don't.Icould only find one type of clip on but they vibrated so bad that they were useless. I cant beleve Ford does't offer something for vans or that fact anybody. Can't seem to find very much towing goodies for E series. You can find more things for a Windstar! Who would tow anything with a Windstar!!!!!!!

 

Cubman, look at e-baymotors, search under ford mirror. Several folks sell new "take offs" from 2003 E series (unsure if F series will fit). I 've got a set coming, will need to modifiy to fit (4 studs instead of 3 on existing 1992).

 

hanno2s does the 2003 mirrors extend out? I'll check out e-baymotors

 

Cubman, they extend (manual, not electric). Mine arrived, will not be a bolt on. Could even be a resale as the footprint of the mounting "triangle" plate is bigger, plus the studs (4 rather than 3) are much further extended and may be too long to mount on my 1992. One of the e-bay sellers states that, with modifications, the 2003 e series mirrors will work back to 1992. When questioned with specifics, they didn't know much (actuallly nothing) about it. I'll get into it when its warmer out there.

 

hanno2s, I checked ebay out last night and saw the mirriors. I thought maybe Ford just added a extra bolt and kept the other three bolts in the same pattern. They never make it that simple for us do they? Warmer weather isn't to for off. let me know how you make out when you do it. thanks for the tip. If I find anything I'll post my findings. Sure would be nice to find something before late April pulling the trailer to North Carolina.

 

I bought E-bay ford take offs and did the conversion on my 1995
E-350 it wasnt as easy as they make it sound but it is doable.

I used a drill bit which Im guessing was the size of a quarter. maybe a tad bit smaller.There are 4 studs but only 3 holes on the truck so you just line up the morror as best you can,use a black magic marker,mark all 4 spots then drill out one hole at a time.One or two of the holes match up the other 2 need to be
brand new spots.

Your door is not flat so I drilled the first hole the the stud touches first,then the second hole and so on.The 3rd hole from the top was the toughest cuz theres a stableizer inside the door and you basically need to drill right along it so close that I needed a tire iron to stick in the hole to move it over a 1/4 inch.

The most important tool i needed was a tapered file bit for my air drill.The top hole and the bottom hole were the easiest to drill out.The two inner holes required more TLC.

The type of air drill I used was like a dremmil but hooked
to my compressor


You will take the mirror off and on about 20 times getting the holes to match up.You basically need to drill the holes slighty smaller then the girth of the studes and air file the holes larger and larger so you have a tight fit.

First mirror took 1 hour as to take my time,the second to 30 minutes.

there are two types of these mirrors!The ford originals allow you to move the little mirror along with the bigger mirror the non-ford mirrors that are look alikes,the small bottom mirror is fixed.

Putting the nuts required a little thought also cuz the holes
are so big inside the truck but I managed to use a few different tricks to tighten them on.

Good luck

 

This might be a silly question but will mirrors work on a 1995 E-150? I have power mirrors, do they have a power window version of this kit? Will I need to splice the new motors into the stock mirror control switch?

Thanks,
CB

 

I've also been looking all over for towing mirrows for my 2003 E350. I've currently got power mirrors. I've seen a number of the extendable mirrors on Ebay, but not in power. I've also tried to use the strap-on mirrors. They're useless at anything above 30mph. The best alternative I've seen are the **** mirrors, but they are not offered for this model.

At this point my only option is to pony up for the Ford OEM telescoping power mirros. I think I'll just live with the stockers until something pops up on Ebay.

 

Has anyone tried the univeral mirrors (p/n 11960) at
http://www.cipamirrors.com/towing.htm ?

These look less prone to vibration than the rubber-band strap on mirrors I picked up at U-haul.

 

jldeeney, I tried this set on mw 01 E350 they vibrate and could not get the right angle to get the right view. There is one mounting pad that is adjustable but for the shape of my mirrors it is the wrong one. They didn't work for me.

 

Nope, the F-series won't fit. I looked the last time I was at the dealers. The triangular base is a very different shape because of the door shape on the F-series.

 

I did purchase the take-offs from E-Bay. Fortunately my van is a E-450, 2003. They fit perfectly! No adjustments, modifications or anything. The only problem I had is the very bottom screw, it is very hard to get to.I just took off the inside plastic cover and unscrewed the nuts, which you use again and reversed the order and put the new ones on. The only other problem, I just rememberd was the nuts are on metal studs which are then screwed into plastic holes. They did spin and I had to use a long, needle nosed vise grip to get them out. I had the old swing out ones anf hated them, these are great! Mike

 

I emailed **** mirriors and asked if they offered a extenable mirrors for vans like they have for the trucks and they said no. He said to check back in a couple of months to see if they come out with them. They do now have a mirror that slide over the van mirror (I think up to 02 or if it is kind of square shaped). if you go to www.gotmirrors.com part #1200 you can see what they look like. My friend has a set similer set for his 1/2 ton dodge and said they work good and don't viberate. I think I'm going to order a set towing the trailer to Myrtle beach in April. Last year towed to Fla. with just the stock mirrors and was difficult to see at times.