Here are the steps to take if you'd like a set of new-style mirrors on your truck. They won't look like "bunny ears," because they are level instead of pointing up. They will also work as parking lights on the outside. The outside lights come on with your headlights like your front blinkers for running lights.
Steps
- Remove the glasses from the mirrors. With your hand push in on the top of the big glass so it opens a gap at the bottom.
- Slide your hands under the top glass, and push out until you hear a pop. Be careful because these glasses are fragile.
- When you hear the pop pick the glass up and unplug the wires for the blinker and the heat.
- Push in the bottom of the curved glass so you can get your hands under the top.
- Push out until it pops.
- Remove wires for heated glass if so equipped.
- Remove the curved glass and set it to the side.
- Get all the plastics removed and out of the way.
- After glasses are removed you should see four Philips-head screws. Once you remove these screws, the face plate should pick directly up off the mirror. Set this to the side.
- Remove the mirror caps. Set them to the side.
- If the caps are paintable, consider painting them now, so you don’t risk damaging the mirror in taking it apart again.
- Find where the bolt plate attaches to the vehicle, and remove the foam or rubber gasket attached.
- Once the gasket is removed, shine a flashlight in between the bolt plate and the plastic on the side that faces the window. You should see a plastic clip.
- Take a flat-head screwdriver and pop this clip loose.
- Remove the plastic cover that is over the mirror hinge. Be careful because this cover is fragile.
- Start modifying your mirrors. Look at the hinge. There are four bolts on the bracket. Loosen the bottom two bolts about two turns before taking the top bolts out completely.
- Insert two quarter-inch washers between the bracket and bolt plate, and re-insert the bolts.
- Snug all four bolts. Now your mirrors are leveled.
- Rewire the mirrors. It isn’t as hard as you think. Your mirrors may have come with a wiring diagram. With or without a diagram, you'll need to find the wires. Locate where the blinker wires split to go to the front and rear blinkers.
- Cut the two wires that go to the front blinker past where they split (where the back is still connected to the wiring harness).
- Tape the end of the old positive wire that is coming from the wire harness so that it doesn’t hit anything and short out.
- Take a spool of black wire and connect the end to the black ground wire going to the outside blinker.
- Take a spool of red wire and connect it to the end of the positive wire going to the blinker.
- Extend the mirror out, assuming the wiring will allow you to do so.
- Run the wiring through the bottom arm of the tow mirror. Pull them through where the hinge is.
- Run the wires out through the bolt plate with the wiring harness. You might have to straighten out a metal coat hanger and use it to help run the wires.
- Extend them to the end of the wire harness and cut them off.
- Put covered male connects on the ends so that you can plug and unplug the mirrors when you are finished.
- Re-assemble the mirrors.
- Do some simple wiring to the vehicle. Remove the lights and find the wires that go to the front blinker. It should be an all-time positive and an alternating or “blinking” ground.
- Use a quick connect to add a red wire to the positive and a black wire to the ground.
- Run these wires into the door up to where the mirror plugs in.
- Put the covered female ends on these wires.
- Plug the positives together and then the negatives.
- Before you test them find the fuses for the right and left blinkers, and replace the fuses with slightly larger fuses to compensate for the power draw.
- Run a power wire from the reverse lights into the cab.
- Run the wires for the clearance lights on the mirrors into the cab.
- Connect both positives to the wire you ran from the rear reverse lights.
- Find a good ground in the cab, and hook both ground wires to it.
- If you are using halogen reverse lights, find the reverse-light fuse, and replace it with one that is five amps bigger. If you have swapped from halogen to LED reverse lights, you do not have to swap the fuse, because they do not draw as much power as the halogens do.
- You now have a set of fully functioning, new-style, GM tow mirrors on your truck or SUV.
Tips
- Use something like a medium pair of Knipex channel-lock pliers to squeeze butt connectors and quick connects.
- Use electrical tape on everything that you cut, splice, or quick-connect.
Warnings
- Many of the parts mentioned above are delicate, so handle them carefully.
- Not every mirror is made to take apart. Most mirrors that are designed to come apart will be accompanied by wire diagrams.
