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By, Jimmy "Big Red" Vance

Sun Performance - Mirror Relocation Brackets

Typical Jeeper scenario...
You're standing in a forest. There are paths leading North and West. In the distance you can hear water babbling in a stream....er, no wait, that's an old computer game...

It's a wonderful day outside, the sun is shining, it's not too cold or too hot.  So what's a Jeeper to do? Remove the top and doors of course! But wait. When the doors come off on a late model Jeep, the outside mirrors disappear, as well. So what? We don't need no stinking mirrors. Well, most state laws say you need at least one mirror located on the outside of the vehicle.  

If you're running without top and doors, you could, technically, argue that the mirror mounted on your windshield is "outside". But if you get pulled over, I would never advocate arguing this point with a law enforcement officer.

So what is one to do? Let's take the mirrors off the door and mount them on the windshield frame. There are several products on the market to do this with.  After looking at a few different ones, I decided to use the ones manufactured by Sun Performance.

The kit is very easy to install. The hardest part is getting the bolts broken loose on the windshield frame. The project vehicle for the install is my '99 Jeep TJ.

1 Remove the two bolts from the lower windshield frame hinge. This can be difficult. Jeep puts them in there with a lot of thread locker.	2  Install the bracket, line up the two holes and re-install the original bolts.
3   Remove the nut that holds the mirror on the factory door mount. Slide the mirror assembly out of the original bracket. (don't loose the spring). Using the supplied washers, install the mirror on the new bracket.	4   Adjust the mirror arm to your liking and tighten down the nut. Take the spring and washers from the factory mirror mount and put them in a baggie or another container in case you ever want to put the mirrors back on the doors.

Now you're ready to hit the road and still be legal. The brackets can be found in most mail order catalogs and cost 25 - 30 dollars. This is a small price to pay compared to getting a ticket.

Editor's Notes: We've run these brackets for several years now and what we've found is that because the mirrors are moved so far forward, using a bracket on the passenger side works only with the doors off. If the door is on, and especially with soft windows in, the passenger mirror is not visible at all. With soft windows on the driver side, you do lose a slight bit of visibility, but the mirrors are still useful. The brackets are simple enough to move that we have left our bracket on and move the mirrors back and forth when the seasons change.

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