Well as I am sure everyone here who has ever towed anything with the Jeep knows that you can't see anything with the standard mirrors. After towing a pop-up tent trailer last year, and now owning a hybrid, I needed to find a proper mirror setup.

I have been looking around for some pop on towing mirrors and found these ones that secure with rubber straps. They work well except that they don't stick out far enough. So I made a custom bracket to extend them out 3 inches.

Mirror packaging:


On the Jeep:








So I created a template for the bracket extension I wanted. This was through trial and error and different trials. The final one gives me a 3 inch extension.

Template:


I wanted to create something out of plastic since plastic is easier to work with. My wife gave me the idea of using a cutting board. So off to the dollar store I went. I came up with this, (ignore the hole cut in it


I used my trusty dremel with the cutout attachment,


Brackets:


The bolts I used are 1" long and 3/8 diameter. The only reason I went this big is because the holes in the arms are 3/8"


So I took the stock mirror bracket apart and re-assembled using my new bracket in between the mirror arms and the mirror base:








Here is the comparison pic of the original and the modified.


Modified mirror on the Jeep:








It is hard to tell in the pics but I can see the side marker light at the back of my trailer now, which means I should be able to see cars behind me. I have not driven with these yet but the cutting board is so stiff that I won't have to worry about it flexing.

Something to add. I noticed when putting the passenger mirror together that the mirror arms have a small angle built into them. The way they come makes the bracket I put in angle away from the Jeep which makes me have to bring the mirror in quite a bit to correct it, which ends up making the mirror bind up against the bolt heads. So I swapped the arms (bottom with top) to see if it would help. Here is a comparison pic of one mirror with the arms as they are from the factory, and the other is after I switched them around. Both mirrors are left set they way they were when I had them on the Jeep.


Before flipping arms,


After,


Now I have lots of room to adjust them.

Just thought I would share for anyone who is in the same boat.

 

great solution for ur problem i was just going to suggest painting it black to blend in but if that cutting board is teflon/derlon forget it, black vinyl sticker maybe.

 

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I may just do that

 

great mod now...watch out for those cyclists you may pass on the back roads...

 

Man that looks great. Towing without good mirros sucks.

 

Nice job...looks like a lot of work though

 

Thanks. It is not that much work. Basically cutting out the two pieces and inserting them into the original towing mirrors.

 

Nice color Just won't look right on my Jeep though.