Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 21:17:24 -0400
Reply-To: Dave C <happycampers@PICUSNET.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dave C <happycampers@PICUSNET.COM>
Subject: Re: Floppy side mirror syndrome
In-Reply-To: <39295051.596B680D@blazenet.net>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
on 5/22/2000 11:20 AM, Donna Cassano at pokeswagon@BLAZENET.NET wrote:
> Greetings Volks,
>
> My '84 Westy has a floppy passenger side mirror. I have taken it off and
>
> tightened the nut underneath, which seemed to help a little, but it
> still goes out of adjustment after a few miles.
Donna and others with floppy mirror syndrome,
Sometimes the post begins to pull out of the white metal that it is held
within. This is one of the poorer designs that VW came up with IMHO. So when
I had mirror problems (and wanted to fix it instead of replace it) this is
what I came up with. Enjoy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is to pass along a fix for non-power mirrors (which I now have).
So, you've got floppy mirrors, eh? And no amount of tighening the bolt
underneath will fix it? Thats prolly because the "mounting stud" is slowly
pulling out. Well, the following repair that I made to my passenger side
mirror has been working fine and doesn't take a lot of talent.
You will need:
tube of JB Weld
vise
Vise GripsŪ
bench grinder (wear safety goggles/gloves/french maid uniform if you want)
keen line of vision
beer (optional)
1-Remove mirror from side of door. (If you can't do this, stop reading now!)
2-Disassemble the nut/spring assembly making note of where things go. Draw a
picture if you need to.
3-Now...place the arm of the mirror in a vise so that you can pull on the
stud extending from the swivel part and it won't slip. Pad it with some old
cloths or something. Don't tighten the vise too tight.
4-With appropriatly sized vise grip, grasp the smooth part of the shaft &
clamp down firmly.
5-Pull the stud. Pull some more. Pull hard enough to pull it out.
6-When stud is removed; rest, have a beer. Look at the way the bolt emerges
from the socket. Remember it.
7-Now to use the grinder. The object here is to remove material from the
surfaces of each of the six sides and end to make room for JB Weld to fuse
the metal stud and the white cast metal of the mirror support arm. I removed
about .5-1 mm I would guess from each surface.
8-Periodically test fit the stud to fit loosely in the previous home of the
mirror support arm. You want enough room to glop some JB weld in there and
get a good contact between the two.
9-Mix up JB Weld.
10- Glop some JB Weld into the hole. Use a toothpick to get good coverage on
the surfaces down in there. Glop some JB Weld onto the surface of the stud.
Not too much, just coat _all_ surfaces.
11-Insert stud so that it resembles it's position before you removed it.
12- Clean around area of socket to ensure smooth surface contact between the
ball and the socket.
13-Loosely assemble to look for clearances. Fix any problems. Dissasemble
for curing.
14-Postion the mirror for curing so that the stud protruding from the arm
now points straight up or position a clamp to hold it in place during
curing.
15-After about a day or so resemble and enjoy a tight mirror.!
Cheers,
Dave C.
Williamsburg, VA
zzzzzzzzz__
|E[__] [__]|[_]\\
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* * * =-( )---------( )--=
'85 GL Westy (His)
'91 Cabriolet (Hers)