Power fold mirrors

[Da Slug]

I have a 2019 Ram classic Bighorn. I bought it used a few years ago, but it's the still the fanciest vehicle I've ever owned as far as electronic gadgets go. My favorite perk are the power folding mirrors. I just have a stupid question, can you manually push them in without damaging them? Sometimes when it's very cold they freeze, I guess, and won't close, also what can I do to keep them from freezing?
Thanks

 

[Grams]

I have a ‘24 Ram 2500 Limited with power-fold mirrors. The first time I drove it thru a car-wash…the attendant came up and Manually-Folded them In (instead of asking…and I wasn’t knowledgable or prepared for his action anyway).

No bad things happened. They’ve worked just fine since. (Which makes sense…after-all…. what if they were struck by a tree-branch or you hit a cross-dresser-hitch-hiker with one?)

Hitchhiking scene - Up In Smoke

Hitchhiking scene - Up In Smoke

www.youtube.com

 

[Wild one]

I have a 2019 Ram classic Bighorn. I bought it used a few years ago, but it's the still the fanciest vehicle I've ever owned as far as electronic gadgets go. My favorite perk are the power folding mirrors. I just have a stupid question, can you manually push them in without damaging them? Sometimes when it's very cold they freeze, I guess, and won't close, also what can I do to keep them from freezing?
Thanks

On a nice day,fold them in and spray a bunch of silicone lubricant on as much of the mechanism as you can get it on.Might help keep them moving in the winter,especially if you do it once a month or so

 

[MADDOG]

I was advised NOT to manually fold them in as you can strip the plastic gear set inside.

 

[Mojo88]

I bought my '19 Longhorn last year. The R/side power-folding mirror would mostly fail to power fold. There is a guy online that sells repair parts (gears and 'stop rings'). I tried rebuilding the motor assembly, using the new gears and the stop ring. The gears are nice (brass), but the stop ring (carbon fiber) broke after a few days. He sent me a replacement stop ring, and I rebuilt the assembly again (another 2 hours), but that stop ring broke too. I gave up and bought a whole new mirror assembly for $750.

If you saw the cheap plastic OEM gears and stop ring, you'd be amazed that the thing works for even one day, let alone a number of years, haha. Moral of the story: treat the whole power-folding mirror assembly like the fragile, ready-to-break thing that it is..... i.e., very gently and carefully.

 

[Grams]

I bought my '19 Longhorn last year. The R/side power-folding mirror would mostly fail to power fold. There is a guy online that sells repair parts (gears and 'stop rings'). I tried rebuilding the motor assembly, using the new gears and the stop ring. The gears are nice (brass), but the stop ring (carbon fiber) broke after a few days. He sent me a replacement stop ring, and I rebuilt the assembly again (another 2 hours), but that stop ring broke too. I gave up and bought a whole new mirror assembly for $750.

If you saw the cheap plastic OEM gears and stop ring, you'd be amazed that the thing works for even one day, let alone a number of years, haha. Moral of the story: treat the whole power-folding mirror assembly like the fragile, ready-to-break thing that it is..... i.e., very gently and carefully.

I guess I’ll be the test-bed for them then….as I UnFold and Fold them twice each day I drive it …to fit it between two rock-columns inside a breezeway at home….

Here’s the pertinent page from the Owner’s Manual on Power Folding Mirrors: (no problem manually folding them…they just have to be reset by using the button twice)

 

[Mojo88]

I guess I’ll be the test-bed for them then….as I UnFold and Fold them twice each day I drive it …to fit it between two rock-columns inside a breezeway at home….

I park in my garage, under a four-post lift, so every time I go in and out I need to power-fold 'em in. So I'm doing at least that many folds every single day. I think the main thing is to just treat them gently.

I do wish they were more easily repaired though. My defective mirror was clearly NOT designed to ever be repaired, so a 25 cent part cost me $750.

If anyone's interested, here's the guy that sells the repair parts for the P/F mirrors.

 

[Daw14]

I thought they are made to fold in manually,just in case you drive on the sidewalk and strike a pedestrian.
This will only injure and not delife them.

Having worked at lots of construction sites over the years is another good reason for this feature , as someone will probably find a way to get to close and push them one way or the other.

 

[Mojo88]

I thought they are made to fold in manually,........

Yes, of course they fold in or out manually. Most likely this will not damage anything. But if you saw the fragile little plastic piece (called a 'stop ring') that controls this operation, you'd be a bit nervous about breaking it.