Broken Folding Mirror (non a typical issue).

[TahoeLT10]

Hi,

Working on fixing a few things on my 2010 Tahoe, to include passenger side mirror. The tilt and folding stopped working. I took everything apart. Fixed the tilt issue by replacing a motor inside mirror adjustment panel. Took the folding motor apart and as with many had a broken spur gear. I replaced with the brass one. Now, put everything together (few tutorials online) and while Gruven Parts have a pretty good tutorial, the entire motor assembly fits together like a lego (only one way). The problem is the mirror is very hard to fold even by hand, which causing the motor to work very hard and it does not always fold the mirror. I took it as far as shaving the collet's protrusions as mentioned by Gruven Parts, but did not solve my issue and perhaps I shouldn't have shave it. Issue one: Since owning this vehicle the passenger side mirror always folded-in more than the driver side until it broke. Now testing it on my bench, I can see it has a wide movement range is it spins on Mirror Base (see #1 on attached pic). Can anyone please confirm if their passenger side mirror folds-in more than driver side? It will help me troubleshoot my hard to fold issue. Issue two: I am pretty sure the reason it is very hard to fold the mirror in is because of steeper indentation angle in the collet as Large Gear rotates out of it (see #2 on attached pic). I understand this is likely done for the force of wind while driving does not fold the mirror. Essentially the Large Gear is held inside in the collet by pressure spring and in order to fold the mirror, the motor must force the Large Gear out of the collet while compressing the spring. I think I can fix it by ether the cutting the spring shorter, thus decreasing the pressure and therefore allowing the motor to more easily snap the gear out of the collet or make the angle on the collet more gradual (#2 on the attached). However, I don't want to do all that before ensuring that I assembled everything properly. I have some concerns as don't understand why the mirror was always folding in more than the driver and perhaps at some point it was replaced by a previous owner with improper folding assembly thus causing all this headache for me. Anyone has any tips? TIA.

Edit: I am starting to think the issue with with the collet. Since I shaved it, it now sits lower in the assembly causing main gear to rub against the mirror base. Well **** me and those guys at gruven parts for ****** tips if this ends up being the true.

 

[kbuskill]

My passenger side folds in slightly more than the driver side. I have noticed this because the passenger mirror almost touches the rain deflector on that side but not on the driver side.

I had no issues with the Gruven gears or HD motors.

 

[swathdiver]

I left my collet alone. Was noisier at first and then quieted down the more we used it as it broke in.

Yes, the passenger side mirror tucks in closer than the driver's side.

 

[TahoeLT10]

I left my collet alone. Was noisier at first and then quieted down the more we used it as it broke in.

Thanks for the feedback regarding the mirror. Did you shave the collet with Gruven parts or left it alone?

 

[TahoeLT10]

I left my collet alone. Was noisier at first and then quieted down the more we used it as it broke in.

Thanks. I just can't fins any other reason why it is so stiff. Since the collet now sits lower, it appears that the large gear is grinding against the mirror base protrusions. Damn it!

 

[kbuskill]

Thanks for the feedback regarding the mirror. Did you shave the collet with Gruven parts or left it alone?

I left mine alone as well.

 

[Doubeleive]

my passenger side mirror folds in more than the drivers side, I am pretty sure that's just how they are made
aside from that I used the oem knock-off gear on ebay, when I first rebuilt it, it would not fold I but could see it was trying too and appeared to be binding up so I had to take it apart and basically reset the gear again and the 2nd try worked fine and that was about a year ago and it still works fine. I did not grind anything.

 

[TahoeLT10]

I left mine alone as well.

Yeap, then it has to be it. I am an idiot for following the guide. I did not use their parts as exact same gear costs $8 and thier internally grounded motor, which appears $3 FC-280, I did not need as I took original motor and simply modified it to remove ground/negative from its casing. However, still don't understand why is it important since our vehicle are grounded itself and the only was I see this being an issue if the motors shorts-out. I will now either have to shave down the mirror base protrusions to make them flush with the collet or weld back those protrusions on the collet that I removed. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[TahoeLT10]

Hi,

Working on fixing a few things on my 2010 Tahoe, to include passenger side mirror. The tilt and folding stopped working. I took everything apart. Fixed the tilt issue by replacing a motor inside mirror adjustment panel. Took the folding motor apart and as with many had a broken spur gear. I replaced with the brass one. Now, put everything together (few tutorials online) and while Gruven Parts have a pretty good tutorial, the entire motor assembly fits together like a lego (only one way). The problem is the mirror is very hard to fold even by hand, which causing the motor to work very hard and it does not always fold the mirror. I took it as far as shaving the collet's protrusions as mentioned by Gruven Parts, but did not solve my issue and perhaps I shouldn't have shave it. Issue one: Since owning this vehicle the passenger side mirror always folded-in more than the driver side until it broke. Now testing it on my bench, I can see it has a wide movement range is it spins on Mirror Base (see #1 on attached pic). Can anyone please confirm if their passenger side mirror folds-in more than driver side? It will help me troubleshoot my hard to fold issue. Issue two: I am pretty sure the reason it is very hard to fold the mirror in is because of steeper indentation angle in the collet as Large Gear rotates out of it (see #2 on attached pic). I understand this is likely done for the force of wind while driving does not fold the mirror. Essentially the Large Gear is held inside in the collet by pressure spring and in order to fold the mirror, the motor must force the Large Gear out of the collet while compressing the spring. I think I can fix it by ether the cutting the spring shorter, thus decreasing the pressure and therefore allowing the motor to more easily snap the gear out of the collet or make the angle on the collet more gradual (#2 on the attached). However, I don't want to do all that before ensuring that I assembled everything properly. I have some concerns as don't understand why the mirror was always folding in more than the driver and perhaps at some point it was replaced by a previous owner with improper folding assembly thus causing all this headache for me. Anyone has any tips? TIA.

Edit: I am starting to think the issue with with the collet. Since I shaved it, it now sits lower in the assembly causing main gear to rub against the mirror base. Well **** me and those guys at gruven parts for ****** tips if this ends up being the true.
View attachment 265495

Gave up on this shit after 3 days and bought a complete set from a local just yard for $50. All is working fine. However, I am almost certain that the shaved collet game me issues. I did not want to take apart my driver mirror to compare or the mirror I got from a junk yard.