57 Remote LH Mirror help

[John Maglia #23063]

My driver side remote mirror head has worked itself loose from the upright mounting arm of the base and the head now flops on its mounting stud. I had a spare mirror that was heavily pitted and I decided to disassemble it to see how it works and if it could be repaired.

After removing the glass and inner insulator/gasket I found that the mirror head is secured to the upright arm of the base by a piece of rectangular shaped metal that is riveted to an inner plate of the mirror head which puts tension on a half moon shaped mounting stub driven into the upright arm. After removing the rivets from the rectangular shaped metal (tension bar) I tried to remove the half moon shaped stud from the base to free the mirror head but was unsuccesful. It wont budge.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to repair the mirror head? I was thinking of trying to bend the rectangular plate to give it more tension on the mounting stud and then weld it back onto the inner plate. It would be nice to be able to remove the stud so I could get the base plated but I think that is hoping for too much. My plater wont plate the base with the stainless head attached.

I also have a bb size dent in the stainless head and if I had the head off, I could remove the inner plate and get the dent repaired. If I cant get the head off, Ill have to drill a hole in the inner plate to access the ding. Quite a job for such a little piece.

I know my description stinks but I am hoping someone has been through this before and if so, will know exaclty what Im trying to do.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions/ideas/prayers you may offer.

Regads,

John

[Dennis]

Mine does (did) the same thing.  Since I didnt have a spare to practice on, I took a 1 foot section of thin braided nylon chord and separated one strand of the chord (about the thickness of fishing line, but I didnt use fishing line as it is too firm).  I then took the chord and flossed it into the area between the mirror head and the stem.  I wrapped it two or three time around and simply tied a tight overhand knot, flossing it in tight as well before trimming the loose ends with a sharp razor blade.  Youll have to play with the amount of wraps to give it before you tie it off.  

On mine you have to actually bend down and closely examine the detail to actually tell that there was nylon tyhread in there. No tech inspection has ever caught it.   The head is nice and tight and has been since 1987.  But then again, Ive only put 500 miles on it since then.  

Dennis

[Roger A. Zimmermann #21015]

Years ago I was faced to the same problem. I took 2 heavy screwdrivers and used them as a lever between the stainless part and the pot metal part. The stud is just pressed in the pot metal part; after a while it came out. With this rude method, the stainless cover will be somewhat damaged, but it was easy to correct the form.
Since that time, I did 2 or 3 mirrors that way but I was all the time frustrated because the pot metal part was not well plated. At the end, I prefered to buy a repro mirror.

[John Maglia #23063]

Thanks, Dennis. A Great idea. If my welding repair doesnt fully work Ill give it a try.

John

[John Maglia]

Thanks, Roger. I tried like heck to budge that pin but it wouldnt move. Mine must be frozen but it is good to know that you were able to remove yours. Gives me hope for other mirrors I may encounter with the same problem.

John