I just found a perfect solution that removes all the shake and slop from with the first gen mirrors. Simply replace the flat washer under the retaining ring of the mirror stem with one of these:

uxcell 41mm x 51mm x 0.5mm 304 Stainless Steel Wave Crinkle Spring Washer

You can buy them at Amazon:


I confirm it's a perfect fit and eliminates side to side shake completely. If you still have back and forth shake due to the play between the motor gear and mirror stem, use 3m 03614 1/2" foam tape to create a cushion between motor gear and mirror stem.

My mirror is now tight again as it was new.

 

Got any pics?

 

I knew I should have taken a few shots when rebuilding the mirror. Nonetheless, I went back and tried to take a few pictures of the parts to attempt to explain it better.

To reduce the up and down shimmy, find and remove the factory washer under the retaining ring in updown_1.jpg and replace it with the new wave washer as shown in updown_2.jpg. Do not use both, it will create too much friction and the motor will not be able to fold your mirrors. *note, ensure you clean your motor casing, pedestal stem, and drive gear of any rust/corrosion and grease well with lithium grease on all these parts and washers upon re-installation




To reduce forward & back shimmy, cut notches in your 3m tape as in forback_1.jpg so that you can round the tape around the top and within the notches of the gear as in forback_2.jpg and forback_3.jpg






Bottom line, these mirrors can now be totally rebuilt factory new again so do not discard them!

 

clsimmon
That's a great job, very impressive 👍 You could have easily made a YT video on that one! Anyway your pictures tell the story well, thank you.

Of course I'm very familiar with the mechanism but yours is one problem I've never had to deal with, and yes lithium grease!

BTW did you pull the wires downwards through the arm i.e. disconnecting them from behind the mirror?

Also, was the motor OK or did you have to open it up to clean?

 

I have to rebuild the passenger mirror and will make an end to end video of its rebuild when I do that one. I'll also include include torque specs of the 2 torx screws; i believe it's 28 lbin.

Yes, in order to remove the washer, you have to completely remove the motor (90% of the time I just end up replacing the whole unit - due to corrosion). In order to remove the motor you have to remove all the clips from the harness, unplug the two leads from the motor, and remove the plastic housings to the molex connectors (I should probably have a video on this part alone) - do not cut the connectors off. Once you've pulled the molex pins from the plug's plastic housing the motor will slide right off.

Yeah, a video on all this is probably a good idea. I promise to do this on the next one.

 

Just checked both mirrors, they each have some slight rotational play.

The RHS vertical play is also fractional,the LHS does have some "rock" but not enough to warrant dismantling at this time.

BTW the reason why these mirrors degrade as they do, I believe, is because there's no O-Ring in the swivel-joint. It looks like GM had space for one, but I guess they either perished and jammed, or the fold-motor wasn't powerful enough with the added drag. So, again I believe, they just left it out so the water gets in (that's my theory)

Never noticed either whilst driving, but now I know what to do, thank you

 

Indeed a video would be good, I think mirrors are a very common subject...

 

I've seen at least 2 iterations of the first 1st gen mirrors. Maybe there are even more as you're right, it was not the best design by the mirror vendor. The earlier iteration was just a metal casing and not even a washer under the locking ring (see my first picture). The second iteration was a plastic sleeve at the top of the motor casing that the mirror stem slides into and the upper mirror rests on (swivel joint). Perhaps yours does not have this plastic sleeve? I believe this sleeve was intended to be a good glide for the mirror to rest and fold on and the washer was intended to keep the mirror pulled down on this sleeve. However, over time the plastic remains intact but it looses it fit tolerances hence the need for a spring washer to keep the mirror pulled down snug on this plastic sleeve.

Nonetheless, bad design, but we now have the ability to rebuild them completely.