I was parked out in front of an art supply store, while I was inside someone backed into me and took out my mirror. I realized the mirror was gone when I came back out to go home. But in any case the mirror was destroyed so I need to replace it of course. Can anyone give me directions on how to replace it and how much it is going to cost me? By the way the truck is a '97 F-150.

-gundamford54

There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who know binary and those who don't.

 

Welcome to the forum. Wish it were under better circumstances, but I guess you found the forum for the same reason most of us did – cuz we had somethin’ broke on our truck that we did not know how to fix.

I recently had the same problem that you described. In my case, the bonehead was me (I clipped it off on my garage door frame), but the results were the same. I posted here and got the following reply from triton_2002:

You will probably have a hard time finding just the bracket. The mirror should just have a few bolts on the inside of the door frame. You will need to remove the door panel. Its pretty easy. Pull off the vertical piece at the top, there should be a screw or plasitc rivet there. There is another screw behind the door handle (pull of the trim around the handle or remove handle, not sure on a 97) Then pull off the switch panel and disconect switches. Then the entire door panel comes off by lifting it UP, dont pull it toward you. Hope that helps

I have not done the repair yet, but I have priced repair parts. You can get a new mirror assembly from the dealer for about $120 – 130, I think. I can not quite remember the dealer price. I found a good aftermarket item for around $70 - $80. I found mirrors on a lot of different sites, but they all seemed to be made by the same company – **** USA. I would recommend that you start with the sponsors of FTE (since their $ keeps this site free for all of us). If you do not find what you need there, just Google on “ford f150 door mirror” and you should get several options.

Good luck. Let me know how the door panel removal goes. I have never done that, and I imagine that "pretty easy" could mean something different to triton_2002 than it does to me.

EDIT - I just noticed that there are additional tips on door panel removal in the FAQ at the top of the forum. That may prove helpful. Good luck.

 

It is easy! Here are some pics I found with more details, although there are a few differences between years. I think this is for 97-99 or so, because my 2002 is a little different.

http://www.jimmijammer.com/Ford%20F150%20tutorial.htm

 

Thanks for the help in giving me the idea to remove the door panel and all, but one small problem still persists. I have manual windows, yeah the ones you roll up and down. Now this creates the big question. How do I remove the window handle so that I can remove the door panel?

Thanks for the pricing also. I will look into that once I figure out the windows.

-gundamford54

On mine, you have to remove the handle itself.

 

There is a plastic cover on the handle. Slip a screwdriver between the ring and the cover and carefully pop it off. Remove T20 torx screw. My drivers side got busted a few months ago, it doesn't take long to replace it.

 

Just finished replacing the driver's side mirror on my 97. It went really well. BTW, thanks triton_2002 for the link w/ pics. It helped. Mine was a little different, but the basics were there.

One problem - Does anyone know how to get the back (colored part) of the mirror off? The one I bought was black. I only found them in black & chrome, but the vendor mentioned that the back pops off to allow you to paint it to match your truck. I figured I would pop the one off the old mirror (burgundy) & put it on the new mirror.

Not as easy as it sounds. I was able to get the burgundy back off of my old mirror only because I could completely destroy the mirror (I had to remove the actual mirror & remove little motors,etc. to get at the back of the clips). I now have the back panel ready to swap onto the new mirror, but I can not get the back of the new mirror off from the outside. I can tell it is supposed to come off, but I do not know how to get it off.

I hope that the advice does not begin with -- "first, remove the new mirror from the truck ...".

 

The following is straight out of my Ford service manual, it just sounds too easy
Sorry I can't post the pics, takes too much time on my dial-up connection.
The pics just show positioning the glass to the edges so you can get a screwdriver or something similiar in the gap to pop off the the clips. Hope that helps, good luck.


Mirror —Cover, Exterior Rear View Mirror Removal

All Mirrors
Position the mirror glass to obtain a gap at the upper edge of the mirror assembly.
Release the mirror cover upper clips.

Non-Signal Mirror
Position the mirror glass to obtain a gap at the inboard edge of the mirror assembly.
Release the mirror cover inboard clip.
Position the mirror glass to obtain a gap at the outboard edge of the mirror assembly.
Remove the mirror cover.
Release the mirror cover outboard clip.

Signal Mirror
Remove the mirror cover.
Disconnect the signal mirror electrical connector.

Installation
Install the mirror cover.
If equipped, connect the electrical connector.
Apply sufficient force to the mirror cover until it snaps into place.

 

Triton_2002, you must be tired of holding my incompetent little hand through this little adventure. Thanks for the info. I will give it a shot tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

 

Glad to help when I can, good luck

 

Well, triton_2002, you were right. Removing that back cover was definitely not as easy as the procedure would have you believe. An octopus could have done it in about 3 seconds. This human, on the other hand (no pun intended), had a few challenges. I got it changed out, but it took a little while.

Last thing. The OEM burgundy back cover does not quite fit on the aftermarket replacement mirror. I am thinking about taking the black cover that came with the mirror and getting it painted to match the truck. Does anyone have a clue how much it would cost to have a body shop paint this small part? I have not had much experience with this sort of thing.

 

Alas, I to have had the same thing happen! The shop I had paint mine cost around 50 bucks! Yeah shocked me right outta my socks. The Shop owner said it took awhile because he had to sand it, paint it, sand again, and paint once more. Looks just like new but yeow! I think next time I could live with the cover not quite tight as i'd like it. You may get it done cheaper, take it with you and go to a few shops and get an estimate on it. But if you DO get it done cheaper DON'T tell me! Just kidding I just thought that was steep.
Lariatrider rides on.....

 

I would think that most shops would not even bother with just one small piece, but you might get lucky if they are already painting something the same color and have some paint left over, but that would make you really lucky! You could probably do it yourself for less than $20 in an afternoon. If your new cover has a texture to it, sand it lightly and use high build primer to fill in the texture so you get a smooth finish. Then use touch up spray paint from Autozone to paint it. Depending on the color, it may not match perfectly but should be pretty close. If you have a auto paint store localy, they maybe able to mix up a small amount, but you would have to check on that.

 

Good idea, triton_2002. I will check into doing that in the next week or so.

 

Another option is lightly sand (I use Scotchbrite), wipe with thinner,and paint BLACK the other mirror. Only You will ever notice, and Black is an easy match! I personally would do the color spray touch-up paint over the black one you bought, however.