Passenger side mirror bracket help.

[HanksB3B]

Now on a more serious note:

With the exception of the center bracket, there is really nothing more than a BFH, a heavy duty vise and a drill press required to fabricate reasonably accurate telescoping mirror arms. Actually I'm surprised they are not available from Roberts or VPW.

I looked at VPW's and Robert's site to see what was available. Although in both cases the brackets appear not to be OEM repros. Not sure the VPW brackets would work, but I especially like what Roberts has to offer. They look like they'd work out well and the price certainly looks right!

http://www.vintagepowerwagons.com/pdf/parts/22misc.pdf

http://www.robertsmotorparts.com/truck_parts.asp?Action=search&search=mirror

Hank

Edited November 27, 2012 by HanksB3B

[ggdad1951]

Hank those are cool and all but not like my stamped tubve version of the arm mirror.

[B1B Keven]

well? Didja buy it yet?

Oh, Keven went to the yard alright, but hasn't been heard from since....

Help, it got me!!!!!

I can't buy it 'till next spring. It's too wet now to get it out.

Edited November 27, 2012 by B1B Keven

[ggdad1951]

I gotta wait till spring? BOOOOO!

Clarify: you CAN buy it NOW, but can't GET it till SPRING!

[B1B Keven]

I gotta wait till spring? BOOOOO!

Clarify: you CAN buy it NOW, but can't GET it till SPRING!

Yes, that's true!

[Jeff Balazs]

Hank;

Thanks for posting the pictures of the mirrors and brackets that Roberts sells.

They look pretty nice for the money. I wonder if anyone here has fitted them?

Jeff

[Young Ed]

Hank;

Thanks for posting the pictures of the mirrors and brackets that Roberts sells.

They look pretty nice for the money. I wonder if anyone here has fitted them?

Jeff

I have one of them on my pass side. It required a little tweaking which of course I wasnt aware of until I had already painted it. Some of the paint than popped off.

[HanksB3B]

Hank;

Thanks for posting the pictures of the mirrors and brackets that Roberts sells.

They look pretty nice for the money. I wonder if anyone here has fitted them?

Jeff

What I'd do. If they are good enough for Young Ed's beautiful truck, then heck I'd use them on mine (if I needed some). Like Ed came to realize fitting them before painting (I'd powder coat em) is important. The Roberts mirror itself is good but the paint used is only fair quality and dull over time. I would have liked if they were powder coated to begin with, or before I installed them to have painted them with a better paint. Woulod I buy them again if I had to... Yes.

Hank

[Jeff Balazs]

Hank;

You are right that is one nice truck. Very nice indeed.

I think I will get those.

Slowly but surely I am finding the missing pieces....... got a decent hood ornament off ebay last night! Have not had any time to work on it lately. Hopefully soon though.

Jeff

[Young Ed]

Be careful Jeff I'm not sure that the style I have on my 46 will fit on a pilothouse.

[Merle Coggins]

Be careful Jeff I'm not sure that the style I have on my 46 will fit on a pilothouse.

No, they won't.

Merle

[HanksB3B]

Oh darn I didn't notice they were for 39-47? (Wish our government checks & balances worked as good as this forum) Thanks Merle and Ed.

I imagine it would be just a matter of modifing them to make them work. Maybe a good starting point to weld adittional metal, bend or whatever is required. Probably easier than starting from scratch.

Hank

Edited November 29, 2012 by HanksB3B

[Jim Shepard]

Hank;

Thanks for posting the pictures of the mirrors and brackets that Roberts sells.

They look pretty nice for the money. I wonder if anyone here has fitted them?

Jeff

The stamped brackets Roberts sells are for '47 and earlier. They won't fit 48-53...

[Jeff Balazs]

Bummer... ..... that does explain why I never noticed them in the catalog before though. I should have known by now it couldn't be that easy or cheap.

Oh well maybe I will just get a couple of those generic clamp-on "peep" mirrors as I can't imagine the stock type ones on a long stalk being all that great.

Jeff

[HanksB3B]

I don't know, I sure like mine.

Hank

P.S. Come on... really.... how hard can these be to make?

[DollyDodge]

Attached is the passenger side mirror I built.

[ggdad1951]

Hank I like 'em too but those aren't right for my truck

[Dave72dt]

Those, not that hard and they offer a lot of adjustability. It's not that they look bad, it's that they don't look like the originals. While you've got what looks like four pieces to the base, the original has one. When you're into a restoration, things like that make a difference, especially if it's being used as a reference for someone else.

[Jeff Balazs]

Well Hank......to me they look like they would buzz a lot at highway speeds.

Of course I could be wrong. I am not that fussy about the looks but function is important.

Jeff

[HanksB3B]

Dave, Mark and Jeff,

Not sure just how it went as far as mirrors at the time our trucks were ordered. Mopar Accessories-2 page 7-48 (1948?) shows a mirror (almost exactly) like mine with two exceptions:

1. I do not have the forward facing tab with the racetrack shaped slot.

2. (and this is the best part for anyone interested in fabricating their own) With this design, there is no need to fabricate the most difficult part (the center pivot) shown in post #26.

Picture unfolding the main bracket. Only two parts are needed. One is a simple "L" welded to the main part. Other than on the arm itself, you'd have to settle for a flat vise squeeze instead of those nice "bullet shaped" tapered looking ends. There is nothing that even an amature like myself couldn't cut, bend, hammer, and shape into a fine looking telescoping mirror arm.

The cover of Don Bunn’s Dodge B Series Trucks book shows a 48-50 series Pilothouse with the extension type mirrors. Flipping through the book I'd estimate about 75%-80% of the Trucks have the telescoping mirror arms. The interesting part of it all is that part number 1199008 is described on the Accessory page as "Uses regular rear view mirror head that is standard equipment on Dodge Job Rated Trucks".

Page 114 (top photo) shows a mirror arm on a 1/2 ton that looks exactly like the one Mark has, but on page 116, a 51 B-3-D has a wider version stamped mirror arm. I’m not sure if there was a difference in the stamped mirror arms depending on the truck model and I can’t explain why some trucks in the Bunn book have what appears to be two different types of stamped arms. Another Mopar Mystery.

Inquiring minds want to know,

Hank:)

P.S. My guess: Back in the day, perhaps more than one independent supplier manufactured stamped mirror arms for Chrysler.

"Standard Equipment" was the stationary arm type mirror. The extending telescoping mirror arms are OEM and are listed in Don's book as "Extra Equipment".

So if I were a farmer back in the day and decided that I didn't want to drive through my cornfield with my head up my a*s I'd order the Extra Equipment and my truck would not have been delivered with the Standard Equipment "Stationary Arm Mirror" (hence the rarity). In my Trucks best defense, my truck was most liklely delivered with the "Extra Equipment" described on page 145 as "Mirror Rear Vision Long Arm Adjustable" for the whopping additional cost of $2.00. (and Jeff as far as the buzz is concerned I can't attest to anything over 55 mph)

Judging by Don Bunn’s book, I don’t think there is a wrong or a right concerning mirror arms.

Edited November 30, 2012 by HanksB3B

[Jeff Balazs]

Hank;

Thanks for your posting. I had not seen the upper "peep" style mirror in the Mopar books and literature I have looked through. That page pretty much confirms my suspicions that this style mirror would be appropriate. I can understand why the other type would be fitted to a stake bed ...... but I think the more compact peep model will work just fine on my pickup. And there are plenty of these available from a variety of sources.

Jeff

[ggdad1951]

I think that Hank may have hit on the answer with the "standard" and "upgrade" type idea. My truck originally was a delivery truck for in town, so the stamped tube style "standard" would make sense. They are also rather fragile so that also adds to the rarity as they just didn't survive. The orignal mirror from my truck the ball joint is totally shot and got replaced with the large farm style screwed to the fenders and cab body.

[Dave72dt]

I'd guess the Extra Equipment line was a dealer or customer installed item. The mirror head is the round mirror placed on the end of all the mirrors and is the same as the ones placed on the standard arms.

[DollyDodge]

the four piece design like Hank shows is what was on my driver's side and I copied it and put in on the passenger side. My truck only had the driver mirror until about 1965 when a neighbor screwed an old jeep mirror on the passenger door.

[4852dodge]

One of my part trucks haad the upgrades mirror bracket. It's much stronger but the mirror head still vibrated.