Trail Rated Viewing

Have you ever had a bad day on the trail and broken your old, spring loaded, brittle plastic side mirrors? I have and I am so tired of going to the junkyard, trying to find one that’s in half decent shape to replace my busted mirror. Below, you’ll see a photo of my old Jeep Cherokee, after I rolled it. I slowly pieced it back together, but eventually I busted it a second time.

I ran into the same issue with my new Jeep, considering it didn’t have a passenger side mirror when I bought it. Also, the passenger door had a broken door latch, which didn’t allow it to shut properly. I went to the junkyard and picked up a new door, but out of the 10 Cherokees that were there, every single one of them had broken passenger side mirrors. Fortunately, I was able to reach out to the guys at The Flop Shop and picked up a set of their XJ Trail Mirrors. I ordered my set with the 6″ mirrors.

The mirror brackets are hand made from 3/16″ steel. They come with stainless steel mounting hardware and come in raw form. I disassembled mine and gave them a liberal coat of Rust-Oleum Hammered Black Paint.

Next, I removed the old driver side mirror, as well as the passenger side cover plate. The door panels, once again, had to be removed. Now I really didn’t feel like pulling the window crack along with the whole panel, so I just moved it slightly out of the way. First I remove the screws from the door handle, then removed the armrest.

I lifted the edge of the door panel, near the mirror pocket, to make room for my screwdriver in order to remove the cover plate.

To remove the mirror, I used a T-30 Torx bit and removed the screws.

I reused the rubber gasket that sealed the mirror to the door. To attach the trail mirror bracket is one of the easier parts of this project. Just put the three screws through the door and secure it down with the washer and nylock nut.

I reinstalled the cover plate on the inside of the door and put the door panel back together. By the time I finished the door panel, the rest of the brackets were dry enough to install.

To install the mirror angle bracket, you:

– bolt through the top mirror angle bracket

– install the nylon washer on the bottom of the angle bracket

– set the angle bracket on top of the door bracket

– secure the angle bracket down with the 3/8″ nylock nut

With the hard work out of the way, I just bolted the mirror up and adjusted it to my liking. I simply repeated the same steps for the passenger side.

So far, I haven’t had any issues with these mirrors. Not only is it quality made, but with the dished mirror, it gives me twice the visibility I had than with the stock mirrors. Not to mention, they’re simplified design makes my jeep look extra clean. Check out The Flop Shop Off-Road for all their products. I also want to give a special thanks to my great wife for buying these for me for Christmas.