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Aftermarket Tow Mirror Install/Retrofit and Color Match


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Hello everyone! I have just successfully upgraded from standard DL8 mirrors(heated and power adjust), to aftermarket tow mirrors from eBay.

 

My truck is a 2014 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE Double Cab, Standard Box

 

After much thinking about whether I really wanted to go with the look of tow mirrors and also how I would make it work knowing that they wouldn't be plug and play, I bit the bullet. I looked all around for some tow mirrors that I would be happy with. I found multiple listings on eBay for a really low price ranging from $195-220. I picked out a set that had a blacked out clearance light as I don't like the orange lense. I will put the listing below. In addition to finding the mirrors I wanted, I also had been reading up on the forum of how I wanted to make it work. I came across a member(pgamboa) who has been helping the community by making and selling a harness that allows people to convert from the standard DL8 mirrors to the fancy DL3 setup. His harness makes the conversion plug and play for the new mirrors. Knowing his harness was for non-tow mirrors, I reached out to him and asked about making one to work with tow mirrors. He took it upon himself to make a harness to work for me even though he doesn't have actual tow mirrors to test. After fast shipment, I had received the new harnesses and I swapped them with my old ones which he will give money back to you for sending back to him. Since I had the door panel off in order to install the new harness, I went ahead and installed a product called "fatmat"(similar to dynamat) to quiet up my ride and improve my speaker sound. Anyway, I replaced my harnesses even though I hadn't yet gotten my tow mirrors delivered yet. My plan was to leave my stock mirrors on until I had my tow mirror in and I planned on getting the chrome caps on them color matched to my truck. Once the mirrors arrived, I popped the chrome caps off and stripped the chrome using muriatic acid. This works very well to completely strip chrome plating on plastic, and it does it in a matter of hours. While stripping the chrome, I decided I better plug them in to test them out. To my disappointment, only the turn signal and power adjust worked. The courtesy lights and clearance lights did not work. I contacted pgamboa again and got his input. We diagnosed the issue to be in my trucks X500 door harness connector. It was missing 2 pins necessary for the courtesy lights and clearance lights to get signal. His harness was pinned for them but my truck was not. To remedy this issue, he sent me a set of wires for both the passenger and driver side connectors. Once I received them, I used his instructions and guidance to insert the wires into the necessary slots to make the connections needed. During this process I had my mirror caps all stripped and taken into my local Chevy dealership to have them color match paint the caps. Finally I got the caps popped back on and the mirrors installed on the truck and I am extremely happy with the look and result.

 

A huge thanks to member "pgamboa"!! He is a great community member and he is always around the forum helping others. He took me on as a customer and helped me through every step of the way. He has put numerous man hours into his research for these harness and just in helping me getting my mirrors working and functioning. I can't thank him enough for the help and highly recommend him for anyone needing help with a tow mirror conversion or the regular DL8 to DL3 conversion.

 

pgamboa's harness topic- http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/196569-fs2014-silveradosierra-custom-plug-and-play-harness-for-dl8-to-dl3/

Tow mirror topic- http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/164349-201415-hd-powerfold-oem-tow-mirrors-the-ones-weve-been-waiting/

 

eBay Tow mirrors - http://www.ebay.com/itm/232168806348?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

*These mirrors have; LED clearance lights, LED Courtesy/Cargo, LED Turn signals, Heated, and Power adjust. Non power-fold/extending.

 

Let me know if you have any questions about anything! I will help the best I can!

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Looks great! How do you like those mirrors? I been thinking about the Modify Street one off amazon. Do your have and vibrations? If I go that route I will definitely get in touch with pgamboa. Seen him around here a few times and is always helping folks out.

 

 

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Looks great! How do you like those mirrors? I been thinking about the Modify Street one off amazon. Do your have and vibrations? If I go that route I will definitely get in touch with pgamboa. Seen him around here a few times and is always helping folks out.

 

 

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Thanks! So far I really like them, especially for the price. Can't beat that price when OEM cost around $900. PLUS you can't get smoked or clear lenses with OEM. They seem to have similar quality to OEM although I haven't had much interaction with OEM. They look good and as far as vibrations, I cannot speak for OEM but over some rougher roads the mirror lens may have some slight vibration but nothing huge. They are mounted very solid with the 4 bolts. They don't rattle or make noise other than the expected wind noise being that you have a giant mirror sticking out to the side. I checked out the ones from amazon you were talking about and they look like they will be the same exact thing from a different seller name. I'm guessing they are all from the same factory somewhere. Otherwise, I can't see much wrong with them assuming you don't get a defective pair. Hope this helps and pgamboa will be very helpful with you in this conversion assuming you go through with it. I can also help in anyway possible!

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If it's just the mirror glass that vibrates at higher speeds, get a 0.25 or 0.5 ounce sticky wheel weight and put it on the back of the glass, that will help steady the mirror. I have been talking to pgamboa as well and he helped me with terminal #'s and locations so I could add the clearance,signal and park light circuits to my truck. I purchased the modify street ones from ebay, On ebay you can do "Best offer" and I got a discount. The mirrors arrive Monday and I can't wait..

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/201714266854?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

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If it's just the mirror glass that vibrates at higher speeds, get a 0.25 or 0.5 ounce sticky wheel weight and put it on the back of the glass, that will help steady the mirror. I have been talking to pgamboa as well and he helped me with terminal #'s and locations so I could add the clearance,signal and park light circuits to my truck. I purchased the modify street ones from ebay, On ebay you can do "Best offer" and I got a discount. The mirrors arrive Monday and I can't wait..

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/201714266854?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

These look identical to the mirrors that Jaymiles007 bought. We did find that the manufacture had the mirror adjust circuits flipped on the passenger side. So watch for that. Basically, when you used the left/right adjust, they would move up/down. Had to flipped those wires to make it right.

 

 

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Or you could have done what I did and only cost you like $5 and you get more function

 

https://youtu.be/d-3C6IDu2nE

 

2014 Silverado 2WT CC Summit White 4.3L V6

DROPKICK Edition

IG: egroj_legnar

https://m.youtube.com/user/jorgerangel159

This is a very specific and custom method on how you get the park lamp to act as a park lamp and turn signal with the different level of brightness. Well done!

 

While this may be a cheaper alternative, what I've found is many folks like the plug and play option to not have to spend the time to do this custom work and want the "Factory" approach. Also, some have the worry of taking a $900 set of mirrors apart. [emoji15]. My harnesses are pinned to their correct circuits like they would have come from the Factory.

 

I noticed you mentioned the Cargo light comes on in reverse and presume you have the Cargo/Reverse diode mod for that functionality.

 

 

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If it's just the mirror glass that vibrates at higher speeds, get a 0.25 or 0.5 ounce sticky wheel weight and put it on the back of the glass, that will help steady the mirror. I have been talking to pgamboa as well and he helped me with terminal #'s and locations so I could add the clearance,signal and park light circuits to my truck. I purchased the modify street ones from ebay, On ebay you can do "Best offer" and I got a discount. The mirrors arrive Monday and I can't wait..

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/201714266854?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Thanks for the tip! Goodluck with yours!

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Let me know if you guys want to see a video at night... anyways here's the video

 

 

Very cool setup man!I love the clearance light with the switchbacks, Looks absolutely amazing. I also wish I had the powerfold like that as well, but for what I paid I am really happy.
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Very cool setup man!I love the clearance light with the switchbacks, Looks absolutely amazing. I also wish I had the powerfold like that as well, but for what I paid I am really happy.

Thanks bud.. these things are amazing.. I'll do a night video and report back..

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This is a very specific and custom method on how you get the park lamp to act as a park lamp and turn signal with the different level of brightness. Well done!

 

While this may be a cheaper alternative, what I've found is many folks like the plug and play option to not have to spend the time to do this custom work and want the "Factory" approach. Also, some have the worry of taking a $900 set of mirrors apart. [emoji15]. My harnesses are pinned to their correct circuits like they would have come from the Factory.

 

I noticed you mentioned the Cargo light comes on in reverse and presume you have the Cargo/Reverse diode mod for that functionality.

 

 

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Yes I understand, i just do this to try to save people money cus I know oem stuff gets expensive. I did have the cargo light with reverse diode but they sucker came off while I was doing this video lol I need to re do it since it looks really good and cost pennies to do.

 

2014 Silverado 2WT CC Summit White 4.3L V6

DROPKICK Edition

IG: egroj_legnar

https://m.youtube.com/user/jorgerangel159

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Let me know if you guys want to see a video at night... anyways here's the video

 

 

That's badass, I wish I could afford powerfold. Where did you get your switchbacks for the mirror? I been contemplating on doing something like that but I want some strips that cover the full length of the trim and kind of like cob led like you have and not separate leds like I have now.

 

2014 Silverado 2WT CC Summit White 4.3L V6

DROPKICK Edition

IG: egroj_legnar

https://m.youtube.com/user/jorgerangel159

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