Mirror folds up in high winds: solved (but not pretty)
If you have a fancy truck with rock-solid built-in extension mirrors for towing, stop reading. This post is a waste of your time. But if you use clip-on mirrors, this might be of interest.
Most (and maybe all?) side mirrors on trucks are designed to pivot when pushed. I'm not sure why -- maybe for tight parking spaces? Usually, the pivot capability is unimportant, as far as I can tell.
But there is a downside to this feature: sometimes, when there is a bad headwind and a two-lane highway and oncoming truck traffic, the cumulative gust of wind will push on the extension mirror, which causes the entire driver’s side mirror to suddenly pivot inward toward the side of my truck.
This collapse is not a fatal problem, but it is startling, and it is annoying to have to roll down my window and re-position the mirror until the next gust comes along. (Pro tip – if you are wearing a baseball cap, take it off and tuck it under your leg before you open the window, or else it could fly off your head and out the window. Don’t ask how I know this.)
So, what to do about this problem? I tried a little wooden wedge to keep the mirror from pivoting. Sometimes that works, for a while, till the vibration causes the wedge to fall out.
The other day, I realized that if I could make a little block of wood to fit into the channel between the truck and the mirror housing, that would prevent the mirror from pivoting. Here is what the channel looks like – notice that the sides are not at 90 degree angles and the channel is not symmetrical:
Click For Full-Size Image.
So here is the small block of scrap wood that I fabricated to fit into that channel – I apologize that is such an ugly piece of wood, but it’s a prototype. If it works in a really windy environment, I may make it out of nicer wood:
Click For Full-Size Image.
Notice the upper right corner of the block – I had to glue on a small wedge to fill a gap due to the asymmetrical geometry of the channel. And also, one of the edges of the block had to be rounded with a wood rasp to fit more precisely into the contours of the channel.
Also, note the groove along the top of the block – it is for a cable tie to hold the block in place.
So here is the block in the channel, without the cable tie:
Click For Full-Size Image.
And here is the block with the cable tie in the groove:
Click For Full-Size Image.
I think this will work – I shoved pretty hard on the mirror and it would not pivot inward. I hope this helps someone with a similar problem.
Most (and maybe all?) side mirrors on trucks are designed to pivot when pushed. I'm not sure why -- maybe for tight parking spaces? Usually, the pivot capability is unimportant, as far as I can tell.
But there is a downside to this feature: sometimes, when there is a bad headwind and a two-lane highway and oncoming truck traffic, the cumulative gust of wind will push on the extension mirror, which causes the entire driver’s side mirror to suddenly pivot inward toward the side of my truck.
This collapse is not a fatal problem, but it is startling, and it is annoying to have to roll down my window and re-position the mirror until the next gust comes along. (Pro tip – if you are wearing a baseball cap, take it off and tuck it under your leg before you open the window, or else it could fly off your head and out the window. Don’t ask how I know this.)
So, what to do about this problem? I tried a little wooden wedge to keep the mirror from pivoting. Sometimes that works, for a while, till the vibration causes the wedge to fall out.
The other day, I realized that if I could make a little block of wood to fit into the channel between the truck and the mirror housing, that would prevent the mirror from pivoting. Here is what the channel looks like – notice that the sides are not at 90 degree angles and the channel is not symmetrical:
Click For Full-Size Image.So here is the small block of scrap wood that I fabricated to fit into that channel – I apologize that is such an ugly piece of wood, but it’s a prototype. If it works in a really windy environment, I may make it out of nicer wood:
Click For Full-Size Image.Notice the upper right corner of the block – I had to glue on a small wedge to fill a gap due to the asymmetrical geometry of the channel. And also, one of the edges of the block had to be rounded with a wood rasp to fit more precisely into the contours of the channel.
Also, note the groove along the top of the block – it is for a cable tie to hold the block in place.
So here is the block in the channel, without the cable tie:
Click For Full-Size Image.And here is the block with the cable tie in the groove:
Click For Full-Size Image.I think this will work – I shoved pretty hard on the mirror and it would not pivot inward. I hope this helps someone with a similar problem.
