Power towing mirrors retrofitted on 2006 E-350?

ndubes · 09-24-2017, 03:52 PM

Just got our 2006 E-350 van, chateau passenger setup with SMB 4x4 conversion last week so I am new to this forum. I have a very tight parking spot for the van and was wanting to look into swapping out the manual tow mirrors for some power ones. Looks like A1 auto and a few eBay sellers have them. Has anyone else done this swap? I'm wondering if it's direct replacement and most importantly how the wiring is done. I can't seem to find anyone selling the wiring harness or switch for the power folding function. I could just put a simple toggle in I suppose and splice some wires but I'm hoping there's a more "elegant" solution out there. If anybody has this factory setup that would be even better, see how ford did it.

Thanks and I look forward to being part of the SMB community!

**BroncoHauler** · 09-24-2017, 04:27 PM

By 'power mirrors' are you talking about ones that fold via power? I'm only familiar with van power mirrors that allow you to aim them via power, not fold them in, but then again my last van was an '06 Ford, so maybe something changed since then.

Herb

boywonder · 09-24-2017, 05:36 PM

Parroting what BroncoHauler said above....I swapped out my stock mirrors for power towing mirrors (my stock mirrors were power)....plug n play..except for moving a couple of conductors around in the connector shell to get the mirror to move in the right direction.

Manual folding.....Manual extend and retract.

Older vans use a 3 post mirror mount, new ones four posts; easy enough to mount a 4 post to an older van......hacksaw off the one extra post, otherwise bolt up.

carringb · 09-24-2017, 06:06 PM

2006 will be plug and play.

FYI Try to find OEM mirrors if you can for a decent price. The aftermarket ones don't last as long.

**BroncoHauler** · 09-24-2017, 06:18 PM

Do any of the van mirrors have the built-in turn signals, like the F series or Excursions?

I bought a pair of newer tow mirrors for my Excursion because they had the built-in turn signals. It's the same swap I also made on an '02 F250 that I used to own. I also installed tow mirrors on my '06 SMB. A great upgrade.

Herb

Nick · 09-24-2017, 09:02 PM

I have a set of standard power mirrors. Non towing that can be manually retracted. I'll let them go free. They do not have the door controls .

ndubes · 09-24-2017, 09:11 PM

I thought I had found some that had a power folding function which is what I would really like to have - our old land cruiser (100 series) had them and i used them every time i parked it. But, I think i must have misread as now I am not finding anything - i think i read "power, folding" as "power folding". Whoops.

Well, i might look into swapping out for the power adjustable ones anyhow, just need to figure out the switch part of it. Truck ones with the signal would be super cool but from what I've read on here and a couple other forums it sounds like there's no way to make that work without hacking things up like crazy.

Thanks everybody for the replies! If I find a good solution I'll let you all know.

arctictraveller · 09-24-2017, 11:48 PM

As an aside, I installed the power tow mirrors on my 2001 and then discovered that the passenger side mirror is not convex like my original one. This means that the view in the mirror covers less of the lane on your right than the old one did, but to make up for that, the lower spot mirror provides a wider view. My stock mirrors had a round stick on that really helped, but didn't work quite as well as the new oblong convex one. It took quite a bit of getting use to, but I finally came to terms with the new mirror. Is it much better than the stock one? Well, it's harder to see if someone is coming up fast on your right, but the view in the convex clearly shows the area next to the van. If I were towing, it would be nice to be able to extend them out, but all in all, I was just as happy with the stock mirrors.

boywonder · 09-25-2017, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

As an aside, I installed the power tow mirrors on my 2001 and then discovered that the passenger side mirror is not convex like my original one. This means that the view in the mirror covers less of the lane on your right than the old one did, but to make up for that, the lower spot mirror provides a wider view. It took quite a bit of getting use to, but I finally came to terms with the new mirror. Is it much better than the stock one?

The stock passenger mirror drove me crazy....Objects really were way closer than they appear.......that's the biggest improvement for me going to the tow mirrors.

The only negative that I've noticed is that the tow mirror glass seems to shake a bit more than the stock mirrors...they are certainly out on longer cantilever arms than stock......but oh well.....my tow mirrors are Ford OEM.

ShuttlePilot · 09-25-2017, 07:54 AM

On the passenger side neither mirror has been ideal for my taste. The original's main mirror was OK but convex lower mirror was useless and now on the tow mirror the main upper being completely flat is useless but I like the lower convex. I've been thinking of some customization between the two. Or I could just take off all the mirrors and drive like the Russians on the Car Crash YouTube Channel like everyone else along the Front Range.

-Eric