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I've seen a few threads about replacing Big Tow mirrors and people asking what they can do if they find a set of memory mirrors but their vehicle doesn't have them. I just finished swapping out mine and decided to start a new thread on it to help other people that may run into the same predicament.
So, you find a great price on a set of Big Tow mirrors with memory. You know that your vehicle doesn’t have memory and the plugs won’t match. The memory mirror has 9 wires on the plug and the non-memory only has 3. So, what are you going to do? The 1st thing you need to do is figure out what wire is what. And, it’s a lot easier than it seems.
You have 2 options for mounting.
1. Use Factory plugs and splice each wire.
2. Buy some male and female 6-pin Molex connectors. Most of this install will work with either but after a certain point it’s Molex driven since most people probably will sell their other mirrors.
If you are going to buy the Molex here is what you will need:
RadioShack 6-Position Male Polarized Connector : Connectors | RadioShack.com
Picture 1
RadioShack 6-Position Female Polarized Connector : Connectors | RadioShack.com
Picture 2
Next is determining what wires are for what function.
When you look at the memory mirror plugs you can see that the wires are all grouped. On the bottom row from right to left there are 3 wires together, then 4. On the top there are 2 grouped together on the right side. So, how can you figure out what wire is what without having to do a bunch of testing?
First, you do a little internet surfing and find the wiring diagrams for the mirrors. The following pictures are clips from the diagrams with the areas that concern the installer.
Looking at Picture 3 you see that there are 3-pins for the motor in positions 1, 2 & 3. The picture only shows the non-memory. Picture 4 shows the "Heat" function and has both the memory and non-memory plugs shown viewed facing the male plug. It also shows helps determine what the pin numbering is for the memory plug. Knowing that 10 and 11 are in the upper right corner and knowing that the non-memory plug starts with 1 in the lower right corner you can assume that holds true for the memory as well.
Next part to follow.
So, you find a great price on a set of Big Tow mirrors with memory. You know that your vehicle doesn’t have memory and the plugs won’t match. The memory mirror has 9 wires on the plug and the non-memory only has 3. So, what are you going to do? The 1st thing you need to do is figure out what wire is what. And, it’s a lot easier than it seems.
You have 2 options for mounting.
1. Use Factory plugs and splice each wire.
2. Buy some male and female 6-pin Molex connectors. Most of this install will work with either but after a certain point it’s Molex driven since most people probably will sell their other mirrors.
If you are going to buy the Molex here is what you will need:
RadioShack 6-Position Male Polarized Connector : Connectors | RadioShack.com
Picture 1
RadioShack 6-Position Female Polarized Connector : Connectors | RadioShack.com
Picture 2
Next is determining what wires are for what function.
When you look at the memory mirror plugs you can see that the wires are all grouped. On the bottom row from right to left there are 3 wires together, then 4. On the top there are 2 grouped together on the right side. So, how can you figure out what wire is what without having to do a bunch of testing?
First, you do a little internet surfing and find the wiring diagrams for the mirrors. The following pictures are clips from the diagrams with the areas that concern the installer.
Looking at Picture 3 you see that there are 3-pins for the motor in positions 1, 2 & 3. The picture only shows the non-memory. Picture 4 shows the "Heat" function and has both the memory and non-memory plugs shown viewed facing the male plug. It also shows helps determine what the pin numbering is for the memory plug. Knowing that 10 and 11 are in the upper right corner and knowing that the non-memory plug starts with 1 in the lower right corner you can assume that holds true for the memory as well.
Next part to follow.
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