Tow Mirrors

[Jon A]

The plugs are the same, the towing mirrors are just missing many of the pins/wires:

 

 

 

Stock mounting:

 

 

Drill hole:

 

 

 

I was pretty impressed with how solid the mounting location was. It's not just a couple layers of flat sheet metal, but you can see the contours give it thickness, which gives it strength and stiffness. That's in addition to the wider footprint of the three perimter bolts which spreads the load over a larger area making the setup inherently stronger.

 

 

 

I didn't disassembe the door beyond what I could do with my fingers. I carefully pulled off the moldings, figuring out how they were on there, and pulled back just the corner of the inner door cover. It may have been easier just to remove the whole thing as the plug is down there a ways:

 

 

Using long screwdrivers and such, I was able to unplug the old and plug in the new.

 

 

 

 

[Jon A]

Sorry it's so dirty, I still haven't washed the thing....ever.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm still playing with the adjustments, but this is a typical view that gives you a good idea:

 

 

As you can see, in the flat portion of the mirror the firs thing you see is the maroon car, and it's not even 1/2 way in view. In the lower portion, you can see there's another car in front of it--quite a ways in front of it--in my blind spot.

[Jon A]

To some of the questions:

 

I got them from http://www.ebay.com/usr/allstarautomotivegroup?_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2754 . Part numbers in pics above.

 

The stick out a good 2-3 inches farther than stock, even in the non-extended position. So you will notice (maybe the hard way) pulling into garages, etc.

 

I don't know if trucks without blinkers on their stock mirrors will make the blinkers work on these. It looks like they've changed the wiring from previous gens, so the only way to know for sure is to hook one up and try.

 

I don't know if they'll fit the 2015 HD's. It's very possible. The best thing to do would have a dealer look up the part numbers for those trucks and see if they're the same.

 

They don't power fold. The memory and reverse tilt features don't work. They don't dim and there's no puddle light. They basically take the yuppy out of your mirrors. But you can see so much better! Even when you're not towing. And when you are, it should be no comparison, much safer. I haven't towed anything yet but will soon enough.

[155]

thank you for all the info on that ! im getting them

[Skidoojc]

One would assume the plug ins are the same for mirrors with and without turn signals? Any thoughts?

[Jon A]

I'm guessing that would be a pretty safe bet.

[JoshC]

Thanks for replying back to everyone Jon. I do have a couple more simple questions. When you fold these in and then back out to normal position, do they lock in a groove or are they just stiff and stay where you stop pushing? Do the big mirrors vibrate at high speeds? I bought an aftermarket set for my old 2010 and they were awful on the interstate, couldn't see anything out of them.

[nomadicdogg]

I have these and mine were painted to match. makes a big difference in how they look.

[MikeySierra]

Does it look like the door will be able to support those mirrors? GM Says that they need some reinforcement to handle the added weight of the towing mirrors. I have a trailer and need those mirrors. Thats why the 4th hole wasn't there and required drilling. Don't understand why GM made the all the 1500's with out the Max Towing Package with the needed support for those mirrors. They did it on the Max Towing Package trucks which if I was needing all that I would buy a 2500HD.

[MikeySierra]

Has anybody seen what the reinforced door for the mirrors actually looks like? How much different is it than the standard doors?

[nomadicdogg]

MY mirrors are ACTUAL GM mirrors. no support add ons needed with the GM mirrors. Unsure of aftermarket but none for GM are needed.
factory plug ins all there and plug and play, also not sure on aftermarket.
You can find actual GM mirrors on ebay comparable in pricing to the aftermarket ones. They look very similar, probably the same company making them but id rather have the GM ones vs taking any risk on a 50K truck

[full_throttle]

I have these and mine were painted to match. makes a big difference in how they look.

 

Are these pics with your nittos and ReadyLift already installed? What size of tires did you end up with?

[KUUG]

Does it look like the door will be able to support those mirrors? GM Says that they need some reinforcement to handle the added weight of the towing mirrors. I have a trailer and need those mirrors. Thats why the 4th hole wasn't there and required drilling. Don't understand why GM made the all the 1500's with out the Max Towing Package with the needed support for those mirrors. They did it on the Max Towing Package trucks which if I was needing all that I would buy a 2500HD.

 

I feel like the reinforcement would be the hole drilled. There is an obvious spot for the hole to be. But I guess there is really no way of knowing unless we have 2 torn apart side by side.

I think the way they are installed by these guys will work out just fine.

[nomadicdogg]

Are these pics with your nittos and ReadyLift already installed? What size of tires did you end up with?

yes those are the nitto's, factory size 275/55/20 with the lift kit. pictures suck, Ill have some better ones once all my paint stuff is correctly done and on.

[1kwik72]

Curiosity got the better of me and I went out and pulled back the plastic for a look see at the inside of my door where the mirror mounts. I have a factory equipped Max tow LTZ with the tow mirrors. I can say the inside looks exactly like Jon's does with no noteable difference on the inside. Without pulling the mirror and comparing 2 trucks side by side it would be hard to tell for sure if there is any difference in layers of metal or extra reinforcement on the outside. FWIW mine are rock solid even over all the freaking potholes we have around here.

 

Craig