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Mirror Relocation Brackets | |
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CONTENTS 1) Vehicle Setup 2) Overview / Performance Review 3) Fabrication / Installation 4) Additional Notes 1) VEHICLE SETUP This modification can be performed on stock of altered Jeep and requires no previous modifications. Any dimensions given relate to a Jeep TJ Wrangler. Dimension and design for other eras of Jeeps should be verified. 2) OVERVIEW / PERFORMANCE REVIEW Overview: Jeeps are designed with easily removable doors. But in order for Jeeps to run without doors the side mirrors must either be relocated onto the body tub or additional mirrors attached to the Jeep. A secondary mirror can be bolted in to the upper (now empty) door hinge. But this takes time to bolt in and requires tools. Plus, any time the door is reinstalled the mirror must be unbolted and removed undermining the convenience of the removable doors. The alternative is to install a mirror relocation bracket, a piece of metal to permanently mount the mirror on the body. Once installed there's no need to mess with tools or disassembly and the doors can be removed and reinstalled at will. Problems With Current Aftermarket Brackets: Versions for earlier Jeeps (pre-03 I believe) have a simple hole in some bracket tabs through which the mirror post is inserted. The stock spring is removed from the mirror and there are no detents in the upper bracket ear. The stock detents allow the mirror to interface with the stock mount and keep the mirror at a semi-fixed position. By spring-loading this assembly it allows the mirror to deflect and fold back when struck by enough force. But otherwise the mirror is in a fixed position By removing this feature the relocation brackets are relying solely on the frictional clamping forced of the nut on the end of the mirror post. Over tightening can easily snap the threads off the aluminum mirror post. Additionally as the mirror is brushed against trees and is knocked back it can tighten the nut causing it to eventually overtighten and fail. And if it doesn't fail then the connection loosens and requires further tightening which can then cause it to fail. Therefore, problems with current bracket designs include: - no utilization of factory spring-loaded positioning detents - reliance of frictional clamping force to fix mirror into place - potential overtightening during mirror installation - potential overtightening due to brushing mirror against other objects - need for retightening as mirror is swung back and forth wearing contact surface Aftermarket brackets for '03+ Jeeps do relocate the whole mirror assembly but they project out nearly 1.5-2" away from the Jeep. By pushing the mounting surface further out from the Jeep it simply provides a better chance that the mirror will hit something, not to mention greater leverage on the mount if the mount itself is caught. First Remedy - Failure: The first attempt to fix the above problems was to modify existing aftermarket relocation brackets. A piece of steel pipe was to be welded to the bottom of a relocation bracket by removing the lower ear. This would mimic the spring pocket on the stock brackets. A thicker piece of steel was welded to the top of the upper ear and detents cut into this (Fig 1). The concept was decent but due to a personal lack of fabrication skill the necessary accuracy just wasn't achieved. As a result there was unacceptable slop in the detents. Also, this design tied the bracket into one particular mirror (see Additional Notes). This solution was deemed a failure and abandoned. Slim Profile Mirror Bracket Concept - Success: The Slim Profile Bracket Concept uses two plates of steel that overlap (Fig 2). One plate is the mounting surface to the Jeep, the other is for the mirror. Total thickness is only 1/2" (vs. 1.5-2" of the '03+ brackets). It allows for the entire stock mirror assembly (mirror, mount, spring, and hardware) to be moved onto the new bracket so that the stock spring loaded detent features are also retained. The key to this is that the mounting hardware to attach the bracket to the Jeep must be accessible. The '03+ aftermarket brackets do this by greatly spacing out the mirror mounting plate. The Slim Profile bracket concept does it by drilling a large enough hole in the outer plate. The body mount fastener can then be inserted through the outer plate to reach the inner plate. This also allows the mirror to tuck closely into the body and close to the door hinge. The mirror is then installed on to the outer place. |
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