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Externally Mounted Mirror Bar
By Jim Johnson, jpflat2a
Are you tired of those small, vibrating side mounted mirrors on your Jeep?
Is it difficult to see your mirror heads when your top or doors are installed?
Do you wish sometimes they would extend further out for a wider load/trailer?
Here is an alternative way to do just that.
In the old Jeep days, the small factory Jeep mirrors were worthless when pulling your trailer to go Jeeping/camping for the weekend. They were so small and vibrated so much, you could not see out of them clearly at all, a dangerous situation, especially at night.
)
One solution was to
mount a length of square tubing to the windshield frame. On
my 1947 Jeep, and for my application, the main tube has an
overall length of 52".
)
The square tubing that
was used measures 1-1/4" OD.
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Two small brackets
welded to the tube allow attachment to the windshield frame.
On the inside, two small mounting plates are used to sandwich
the windshield frame. On the outside of the tube, a total of
four 1/4" holes were drilled thru the top surface and nuts
welded to the outside of the main tube. Inside these holes,
stainless allen drive set screws are used to keep the arms
secure. Thumbscrews could be used as well.
)
The mirror arms are
made of 1" square tube and slide nicely inside the larger
main tube. The arm lengths measure 30". At the end of each
arm, a short length of round tubing has been mated/welded to
the square tube arm. The end of the round tube has been
flattened and a 5/16" hole drilled for the mounting of the
mirror head. I used rectangular 5x7 stainless mirror heads;
round heads could be used as well.
)
)
With this
set-up bolted securely to the windshield frame, you now have
a custom mirror system that can be tailored to your needs, as
well as reducing vibration. You can extend the mirror arms to
whatever length the job requires. When off-roading, if you
encounter a tight spot or narrow canyon, you can simply
remove the mirror arms by loosening the set screws, pulling
the arms out, and narrowing the width of the Jeep. Of course,
when removing the windshield entirely, or folding the
windshield down (which I never do) you would lose the mirror
set-up.
This is a rather simple project that any Jeeper with proper tools and welding skills should be able to perform easily. Measure your Jeep frame and make it to your own specifications.
The mirror bar set-up that you see on my Jeep was made and installed in 1975. It has provided over 30 years of durable service. It was re-chromed in 2005.
I would like to thank old school Jeeper and family friend Jerry Everington, now of Rigby, Idaho, for the design and manufacture of my mirror bar set-up. Jerry is a master fabricator and also designed and built my roll bar/cage, as well as my spare tire carrier/tow bar combo. He also designed and made these mirror bars for full size Jeep Wagoneers and IH Scout IIs. We sold his products at our Jeep dealership with great pride and satisfaction. Thanks Jerry !