Tek_Freek
Active Member
A wire shelf collapsed and luckily it was a slide not a fall. There is little damage to the body of the car. A couple of dings like car door dings and one larger that might be hard to fix. It looks like most of what is evident can be buffed out.
The mirror, on the other hand, got broken off at the same weak point everyone else has reported. I looked it over and decided I could fix it.
The interior dimension of the tube that breaks off is a little over ½”. I bought a 3-foot length of 1/2” OD pipe at Home Depot and cut it to 4” in length. It was a bit of a loose fit so I used a combination of duct tape and strapping tape to get a closer fit.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-36-in-x-1-2-in-x-1-16-in-Aluminum-Round-Tube-801247/204274002
I fished the wires through it and found the colored wires were too short to reach the ones connected to the mirror so I cut off the top of the plastic tube at the mirror assembly. This allowed enough length to connect and solder them together. Here’s the top of the tube removed giving enough length of wire to join them.
I wrapped each in electrical tape then re-wrapped it all in electrical tape as a bundle.
Note: there are two concerns regarding the wire connections. There are two black wires that connect to “spades” in the mirror. I put a piece of tape around one and connected it to the top spade. I did this in case they were backwards. I also taped one of the purple wires on each side for the same reason since there were two sets of them. I was perhaps lucky that my first attempt was correct, or maybe it didn’t matter {shrug}.
The next problem is lifting and rotation. The piece of pipe holds everything steady, but when the mirror is rotated it lifts up over the “teeth” at the base because there is nothing keeping the pipe from lifting and it’s supposed to catch. Two holes and two screws and it no longer rotates or lifts. Not the most elegant solution, but it works.
Ignore the extra hole. Poor planning.
The result:
I don't think it will rotate for collapsing against the car and I'm not going to try to do so.
The mirror, on the other hand, got broken off at the same weak point everyone else has reported. I looked it over and decided I could fix it.
The interior dimension of the tube that breaks off is a little over ½”. I bought a 3-foot length of 1/2” OD pipe at Home Depot and cut it to 4” in length. It was a bit of a loose fit so I used a combination of duct tape and strapping tape to get a closer fit.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-36-in-x-1-2-in-x-1-16-in-Aluminum-Round-Tube-801247/204274002
I fished the wires through it and found the colored wires were too short to reach the ones connected to the mirror so I cut off the top of the plastic tube at the mirror assembly. This allowed enough length to connect and solder them together. Here’s the top of the tube removed giving enough length of wire to join them.
I wrapped each in electrical tape then re-wrapped it all in electrical tape as a bundle.
Note: there are two concerns regarding the wire connections. There are two black wires that connect to “spades” in the mirror. I put a piece of tape around one and connected it to the top spade. I did this in case they were backwards. I also taped one of the purple wires on each side for the same reason since there were two sets of them. I was perhaps lucky that my first attempt was correct, or maybe it didn’t matter {shrug}.
The next problem is lifting and rotation. The piece of pipe holds everything steady, but when the mirror is rotated it lifts up over the “teeth” at the base because there is nothing keeping the pipe from lifting and it’s supposed to catch. Two holes and two screws and it no longer rotates or lifts. Not the most elegant solution, but it works.
Ignore the extra hole. Poor planning.
The result:
I don't think it will rotate for collapsing against the car and I'm not going to try to do so.
Had to crazy-glued them back together.