Anyone fixed a broken remote mirror knob?

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Joined
Mar 1, 2011
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Location
Australia
My Car
1972 Sprint Sportsroof
A few weeks ago I knocked my knee into the remote mirror knob and snapped it off. I bought another one from Mustangs Unlimited (weirdly about 2.5 times longer than the original) which has a small screw thread on the end.

What I want to know is whether the original knob was screwed into its base, because when I look at where it broke off it is unclear if the knob was screwed in or whether the knob and base are one casting.

If it was screwed in I'll persevere with a drill and an Ezy-Out to get the old screw out, but if the knob was cast on I'll just go straight ahead and drill and tap a new hole to suit the new knobs thread.

Anyone here know - threaded or cast???

remoteknob1remoteknob.jpg


 
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I'll take a peek at an extra one I have, my memory is the part is cast as one solid part but I'll take a close look

 
Ok just found it, I took a look at the knob.

It looks like it's 2 piece, but I think it was hot forged together.

It looks like the polished knob is placed in a mold and then the lower part is cast onto it.

Looking at how it sits in the cage with the 3 control wires, it would be hard to drill out the center without taking it apart further. The center sits on a spring, so if you started to drill down through the center it would compress and slide around making it hard to get a hole that is straight. I tried to take my knob apart pressing down I found it next to impossible to pop the wires out of the holders.

I tried to turn my knob with a soft jaw plier, it wouldn't budge but the base was shifting around in the mount making it very obvious that the base might snap.

If that knob was meant to be removed i wouldnt be able to do it with out serious damage to the lower pivot base.

I'm at a loss at how to tackle it to get a 100% repair.

I swapped my mirrors for the reproductions on my car about 6 years ago, the mirror I have is the busted original that is like yours. The reproduction mirror is different and the knob construction is different as well from oem ford.

 
Thanks 72HCODE, you've saved me the effort of trying to Ezy-Out a broken thread where there is no broken thread!

I think the first thing I'm going to try to do is drill a new hole. With the knob being held tight in the door I may be able to wedge a screwdriver end or pliers in there to stop it moving enough to put a hole in it. If that doesn't work then I'll have to stare at it a little longer in order to work out a Plan B.....

 
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