Side view mirror sagging, at the elbow joint not door mount

[johnhup]

Has anyone seen this happen before? I am about to dig into my doors this weekend and just want to make sure I have everything lined up before I start tearing into this thing.

Are there any simple solutions other than replacing it? As you can tell, I have never dug inside the doors so I am not sure what to expect.

[TJs692002]

I have the same problem on my 69. I adjust the mirror so that the bottom edge of the glass is parallel to the ground. After a shot trip the outside bottom corner of the glass is now angeked down towards the ground. If you figure out how to tighten up that joint please post it here So the others can do the same!!!

[InkaSteve]

Are there any simple solutions other than replacing it? As you can tell, I have never dug inside the doors so I am not sure what to expect.

You shouldn't have to get "into" the door to fix it. There is a small setscrew at the rear of the mounting. Sometimes under the rubber gasket. This is what holds the mirror onto the door bracket which is screwed on from outside the door. Sometime just tightening everything up helps. I have found that when I tried to tighten the nut under the mirror elbow I managed to break the mirror. So I bought a new one.

Good luck,

Steve

[Guest Anonymous]

The trapezoid mirrors can be adjusted by removing the glass and tightening the nut inside. Rectangular/early E21 mirrors can be adjusted by removing the mirror then looking underneath for the nut that is visible. Tighten this nut to adjust the joint.

shermanmartinez@hotmail.com

[Mike Self]

tightens the mirror head to the arm is unfortunately sealed forever under the glass, and the glass usually breaks when you try to remove it.

I did a Roundel column last year on refurbishing these early mirrors if you want to remove the old glass--most of em have failing silvering--and replace it. If you don't want to mess with that, you might try drizzling some thinned contact cement around the loose joint. You don't want to lock it so tight you can't move it, just insert something that will cause friction.

If you want guidance on mirror dismantling/refurbishing, drop me an e-mail.

mike