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mirrors

90xj06

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Peabody, MA
hi i was wondering how to remove the glass from the mirrors with out braking the glass. my adjusters don't work so my passengers mirror flap's around.
 
I don't think you can on that model year (profile says you ahve a '90)

I had a similar problem with my '89 and just found a source for cheap aftermarkets and replaced the whole unit. Postmortem revealed that there really wasn't any way to do it, at least that I could see.

Others?
 
Atleast here in Va you only have to have 2 mirrors.....of any combination between rear view and side view. I knocked my pass. side mirror off years ago and just took it off and don't miss it too much. Not sure if that's somethin you'd wanna do; but just thought I'd mention it and put in my two cents worth!
 
90xj06 said:
hi i was wondering how to remove the glass from the mirrors with out braking the glass. my adjusters don't work so my passengers mirror flap's around.
88 Larado, remote toggle adjustment mirror passenger side. Used heat gun to remove mirror from plastic mount but warped mount because of to much heat. Discovered broken metal piece used to hold plastic mirror mount pad and concluded mirror wasn't repairable. Ordered new chrome passenger mirror online as replacement. This was much cheaper quality then original Jeep 88 mirror.
 
Just today I fixed my mirrors; they both flopped around due to loose adjustment. I stuffed some approx. 3/8" thick foam in strips about 2" by whatever I needed to fill in the places I needed to make the mirror stay in the right position. If I needed to raise a corner, just stuff another piece of foam behind it there. Seems to have worked great, I just did it today but I have the doors open and shut a hundred times while working on other things and they never moved.
 
As mentioned, you can use heat if you're careful. But if it's already flopping, don't expect to have much luck fixing the mechanism anyway, as KenZN discovered. Here's what usually happens:

The mirrors pivot on a cross shaped gimbal, which is made of some kind of cast aluminum. The gimbal corrodes and seizes, and there's no easy way to lube it. Eventually, the adjuster stops working, and then you make the fatal mistake: you adjust the mirror by pushing on the glass. After that, the glass flops, because you have broken the little gimbal. Long ago I saw a posting on the old XJ forum from someone who had disassembled one of these mirrors and brazed up a new gimbal out of welding rod. But if you can't replace that gimbal, you're pretty much out of luck.

If you have these mirrors and they still work, you should do yourself a favor and as soon as they show any sign of sticking, grab the toggle and wiggle it furiously in all directions, many many times, to free it up again. Even if the movement is limited, eventually it will free up if it moves at all. It may also be possible, once you've moved the mirror to its most extreme position, to squirt some lube in there, though you'll end up with lube all over the door. But whatever you do, do not ever force the mirror by pushing on the glass.
 
Yeah, the mirror is glued on and the screw to disassemble the whole mess is behind the glass.

I have repaired two floppy mirrors though. Fold the mirror back towards the door and hose off the 3-control control wires with penetrating oil. YOu'll need to cut or push the rubber sleeve over the cables out of the way. Work it until the stick inside is lose. It seems like forcing the stick when the cables are gummed up stretches the wires and causes the floppiness.

To fix the floppiness, I carefully grabbed the outside of each cable shroud with two pairs of pliers and stretched it lengthwise a each to take up the slack. I fixed my drivers side and a spare I grabbed at the junkyard this way. Before that I had used hot-glue in the corners to fix the mirrors in place.
 
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