HOW TO: Replace little convex mirror in BT assembly

[Psychlone]

I recently had to replace the little convex mirror below the large side-mirror on the Big Tow mirror assembly.


I found a great deal, and a great contact at http://automirrorsplus.com/
His name is Troy Hopper, and he is definitely professional and a great guy to deal with.

The mirror was #3908 for the driver's side, and the total cost including shipping was $56.85
If you go to their website, you won't find Nissan Titan mirrors right there, but on the left side of the screen, down towards the bottom, there's a link called "Mirror Catalog" - it looks like a rear-view mirror. Click that, and enter Nissan Titan for the make/model, then ALL for the year, and you'll see that they have pretty much all the mirrors that we'll ever need for our trucks, and at better prices than I've found anywhere else including eBay. My local Nissan dealership can't even get just these mirrors, they want you to buy the entire assembly.

That being said, here is the complete HOW TO on replacing the small convex mirror on the Big-Tow mirror assembly.

Having the proper tools for the job is PARAMOUNT to getting it done correctly and safely.
Rubberized gloves REALLY are the correct tool for many parts of this job, as they're not as penetrable by the glass, and really help getting off the sticky backing from the original mirror just by simply rubbing.
Needlenosed pliers and a knife are also needed to break the mirror, and to get behind it to remove all the glass. - The needlenose pliers also serve the purpose of removing the plastic clip that holds the bezel in place.
And, as always, WEAR EYE PROTECTION every time you're working with glass!!!


***PUT ON YOUR EYE PROTECTION AND RUBBERIZED GLOVES BEFORE PROCEDING!!!***

Remove the CENTER of the small mirror by breaking it through *carefully* with the needlenose pliers making sure to completely remove the entire center where the round plastic clip holds the bezel in place. (I think it should be mentioned at this point that whomever designed this mirror assembly should be drawn and quartered for their ineptitude in engineering a replaceable mirror!)

The following pix demonstrate the removal of the center of the glass, as well as unscrewing the plastic clip retainer. (It turns 1/2 turn to release - you'll see once you get the mirror broken away enough...) - I found that by hanging a plastic grocery sack over the mirror assembly that it easily catches all the pieces of mirror that come off (most is stuck on real well with the adhesive backing from the factory, but nonetheless, quite a bit pops out and falls into the bag)



After removing the little bezel from the Big-Tow assembly, continue to break the rest of the mirror out, being *very* careful not to crack or break the bezel itself...you can't just buy this piece alone, you have to purchase the ENTIRE ASSEMBLY just to get it!!! (I know this sounds funny, but you'll catch yourself squinting so hard because you know you're breaking glass that your mouth is open - BAD IDEA, unless, of course, you like the taste of blood! - Pay attention to this!)

At this point, it's time to prep the bezel for the new mirror. Using the rubberized gloves, simply rub the adhesive off (seriously, it's ALOT easier than using an adhesive remover, or anything else for that matter - the rubberized gloves provide protection for your hands, as well as the *perfect* material for literally rubbing off the adhesive!)
Once it's free of the old adhesive, I scratched it up a bit to ensure a good contact surface. You may want to use some sandpaper, but since it was getting cold, I just ran it across my wire wheel for a couple passes...just enough to rough it up a bit.
After that, clean it real well with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol. I refuse to even buy that 76% crap...it doesn't do very well at anything, and you wouldn't want it in a wound...it's only 76% alcohol (what's the rest?) - Also wipe down the back of the new mirror with alcohol and attach the adhesive circles to it now making sure you've got them on the BACK side of the mirror.



After that, insert the bezel back into the mirror assembly, screw the round plastic retainer clip 1/2 turn to lock it in place, then firmly but *carefully* place the mirror into the bezel and press all around where the adhesive circles are.



Game, Set, and Match.

Psychlone

[baseballfanz]

Great write up and pictures. Thank you, hopefully I don't need these instructions anytime soon, but if I do I'll know where to look.

[ablexus]

Sorry for the late update but I know from experience that this could use a bump. It's almost sticky territory. Almost.

I could really have used this information last year. I had to replace the entire freaking unit.

Andrew