The King procrastinator at his finest… I’ve had these mirrors sitting in my garage for around about 2 years. Every time I saw the box they were in I would think,
The mirrors I finally installed have a 1988-1998 base but a 2015 mirror style. They are made by Boost Auto Sports and can be customized to your liking. I chose to go with the LED strip for the blinker/running light with a smoked lens, red dotted blinker in the mirror, and a high output reverse light. I will show you all what they look like all lit up later in the post.
In order to mount these I had to purchase some brackets from OBS Solutions. There is the dual plate mirror mounting piece…
And a inner door reinforcement plate. These mirrors are heavy and this plate makes them solid with no bouncing or vibration
The reason I need to get with my brother to do this project is he has been welding for decades. I don’t trust myself to weld thick metal to the thin sheet metal of a truck door. Now he is a little out of practice since he took on his new job about 10 years ago. He plays on the computer all day designing the HVAC systems for the Facebook Data Centers… So he used to be the one installing the stuff that was designed, now he is the one designing it. His welding skills go far beyond just HVAC stuff but I’m not gonna go into that. Let’s just say he knows how to weld any kind of metal. MIG, TIG, or Stick… with a little practice it will all come back to him… I hope. LOL
Trying to get our work and family schedules to match was always tough. Then getting busy and totally forgetting about it didn’t help either. Also he doesn’t just live around the corner. He lives in my home town about an hour away. While hanging out for the holidays we finally said, “Let’s get this done and over with!”
Getting our schedules to work was one battle. When I showed up to his house it started raining… then the power went out for about 2-1/2 hours. Gee that’s nice, so much for getting a halfway early start so we weren’t working in the dark.
Without electricity my brother couldn’t weld, so while we were waiting I got to work pulling off the old mirrors, interior door panels, and my favorite feature… the triangle wing window. One cool thing about this mirror install is that I still have use of that window.
After a couple hours the electricity came back on and my brother got out his welder and tacked the mirror bracket in place on the bottom. Then we mounted the mirror and made sure it was nice and level before tacking the top of the mirror mounting plate.
With both plates tacked in place we installed both mirrors to ensure that they were both level and had the same angle toward the rear of the truck. We nailed it first try. At least something was going right, despite the wind and rain still trying to screw with us.
Then wouldn’t you know it, the regulator valve on the gas for my brother’s MIG welder was bent and he didn’t know it. What gas he had left in there all leaked out. Oxarc, the only place in town to get a new tank of gas, was closed… perfect!! Just another hurdle to jump over in this project. My brother had to go in the garage and get his TIG welder out now. I’m sure glad he has both a MIG and TIG welder or this project would have stopped in its tracks.
First we tried welding the brackets with them still on the truck. As I stood by watching I thought it would be easier to just to take the doors off… Hmmmm
So that is what I did, took the other door off and set it on a set of saw horses. That sure made things easier on my brother.
Look at him all bundled up like we live in the Artic. LOL I’m just in jeans, a sweatshirt and Carhart vest… I told him working inside on a computer all day has made him soft. HAHAHA The youngest brother talking trash to the oldest… now that’s brotherly love. wink:wink
Then before we knew it the sun went down and we were working in the dark. We had to get this finished up. It took longer thank expected… of course. Especially since my brother had to TIG weld it and was a few years out of practice. But just like riding a bike on the second door he was cruising right along.
Once he finished welding one door, I wiped things down and threw a quick coat of paint on the inside and outside to prevent rust. Then hung the door back on the truck and put it all back together. The paint was still tacky and I got my dirty hands all over it so it looks like crap for now. But that’s an easy fix.
My future plan is to talk to the local community college about doing some paint and a little body work. They have an automotive/auto body class and I am gonna see if they want a little project to work on. Fill some holes from the old mirrors, fill and blend the new mirror brackets, and paint the roof of the cab. I think it will be a nice little project for some kids learning body work, plus it will save me some $$ in the long run.
That was a long day, we didn’t finish up until 9:30pm and we started at 1pm and I still had an hour drive home. Plus this mirror install isn’t all the way complete. I still needed to wire up the blinkers, running lights and reverse lights. That’s going to have to wait until the next day.
After being upside down under the dash of my truck for a few hours, I was able to get the lights all wired in. I totally forgot to take any photos of the mess I made of the truck. Dash parts everywhere, wires strung out on the ground… my bad. I was just in Go-Mode and totally forgot. It all went back together nicely and every light works. Here are the outer running/turn signal strip LEDS
Then the blinker in the mirror…
Lastly, my favorite, the reverse light
These shine a nice bright light down the side of the truck. They help big time at night.
What a great upgrade to an old truck. A wider range of visibility with bigger mirrors, increased nighttime visibility when backing up, and they look waaaaay better than those originals. The mirror brackets and door reinforcement plates work fantastic!! These heavy mirrors don’t bounce or vibrate when going down the road. Nice and solid. Just a few finishing touches are needed to make these mirrors look like they were meant to be on my truck.
Your Random
Dose of...
