Mirrors have to go?

[MNSIU]

This summer I purchased a 2001 34ft. Pace Arrow. I was able to park my former coach in my garage but because of the power/heated mirrors on this one I lack the clearance needed to clear the doors. If I could just disconnect the mirrors from where they mount to the side of the coach, hang them on the side so as not to have to disconnect the wiring, I could get it through the doors. Has anyone had this same problem and am I getting myself into more than I want to deal with?

[Gordon Dewald]

It may be time to consider a larger door. While costly it may be cheaper in the long run than breaking mirrors or going through the hassle of hanging and unhanging them.

[MNSIU]

Thanks for your reply Gordon. No can do. The garage has three roll up doors. The 14' in the center with a standard roll up on either side. There is about 20" that separate the doors on each side. Just not enough room. While I agree that removing the three screws that hold them in place on each side and hang them from a support wire is a hassel it's that or sell the RV or park it outside. I do have a friend that has a large barn I could park it in for the winter but I would like to keep it home if at all possible.

[Johndale]

Post a pic please.


Sent from my iPhone using iRV2 - RV Forum

[britcon]

I built a number of Airplane hangars where the wall sections between the doors were hinged at the top. Doors were opened fully, then wall section unpinned and hoisted via small winch to provide wide enuf opening width to get the airplane inside. Would depend on how your garage is framed. If its not a bearing wall, you might be able to do this.

[MNSIU]

I took some photos and placed them in an Album in iRV2 but not sure how to make them available. I said 20" when in fact there is only 13". The 14' door in in the center with a 7'x9' on either side. The doors are located on the peek end of the building. Sizzor trusses run across parallell to the doors end of the building. Britcon suggested that the section between the doors could be modified with a hinge to pull them up and out of the way. Good idea but I do not know enough about building construction to know if this can be done with this building.

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by MNSIU

This summer I purchased a 2001 34ft. Pace Arrow. I was able to park my former coach in my garage but because of the power/heated mirrors on this one I lack the clearance needed to clear the doors. If I could just disconnect the mirrors from where they mount to the side of the coach, hang them on the side so as not to have to disconnect the wiring, I could get it through the doors. Has anyone had this same problem and am I getting myself into more than I want to deal with?

Originally Posted by MNSIU

Thanks for your reply Gordon. No can do. The garage has three roll up doors. The 14' in the center with a standard roll up on either side. There is about 20" that separate the doors on each side. Just not enough room. While I agree that removing the three screws that hold them in place on each side and hang them from a support wire is a hassel it's that or sell the RV or park it outside. I do have a friend that has a large barn I could park it in for the winter but I would like to keep it home if at all possible.

I cannot work out the math. You say the door is 14'. Width of the coach should be 8'6" so that should leave an additional 5'6" for mirrors. Where am I going wrong?

[jones47172]

I guess you have considered folding mirrors?

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by Gordon Dewald

I cannot work out the math. You say the door is 14'. Width of the coach should be 8'6" so that should leave an additional 5'6" for mirrors. Where am I going wrong?

14' high ???

[MNSIU]

The door is only 9' wide! The 14' is the height. When I had my 33' holiday I had approx. 3" clearance on each side because of the awnings sticking out on each side. I used to back it in. I was either right or real wrong. If you look at my member photo which shows the RV parked in front of the garage you can see the garage doors. I also have placed some photos in an album but I'm not sure they have been released for showing yet.... If you notice in the photo of the mirror you will notice an allen set screw that holds the main mirror to the standoff post. I'm wondering if I were to loosen that set screw if the mirror would just pull up and off, providing there is enough slack in the wiring?

[Bucky1320]

I would certainly try it. Maybe get some foam wrapping to wrap around the mirror to protect it and the rv. What is the big deal? I'm hearing about reengineering the garage. Seems like a lot to go through.

[theroc]

Originally Posted by jones47172

I guess you have considered folding mirrors?

I was going to suggest this too. You haven't mentioned how much more clearance is needed but if you folded --or twisted-- the mirror head so the mirror glass is facing the side of the coach, I have to believe you'll clear the sides if your old coach made it.

I had a ex-neighbor down the street who had to do that. I watched him as he backed the coach into his garage one day. He backed until the mirrors were approaching the garage door sides and then he got out and twisted each mirror head on both sides and then continued backing the rest of the way.

If you are going forward into the garage, you obviously could twist the mirror heads ahead of time before driving into the garage. When backing out, you may have to twist the mirror so you can view it as you're backing and upon approaching the garage door, jump out and twist the mirror heads so that they will clear and then twist them back once completely out. It may not be the best way as I know it would be nice to be able to view the mirrors at all times but it definitely is the cheapest way to solve the problem as there's no alteration to either the coach or the garage door involved.

I took some photos and placed them in an Album in iRV2 but not sure how to make them available.

To insert a photo inside a post in a thread, just obtain the address associated with the photo in your album at iRV2 and then use the "Insert Image" icon "" The address associated with the image will be expressed as a URL (or a web address and in most cases will end with "jpg") which you can copy-and-paste into the box that appears when you use the "Insert Image" icon.

[Gordon Dewald]

Much clearer now.

I guess the ony thing to do is try taking off one mirror and see how it is set up. With luck there will also be a connector so you can disconnect it rather than letting it hang.

A hanging mirror could get pinched or pulled of it you are too close to the door frame.

[Hikerdogs]

Originally Posted by MNSIU

The door is only 9' wide! The 14' is the height. When I had my 33' holiday I had approx. 3" clearance on each side because of the awnings sticking out on each side. I used to back it in. I was either right or real wrong. If you look at my member photo which shows the RV parked in front of the garage you can see the garage doors. I also have placed some photos in an album but I'm not sure they have been released for showing yet.... If you notice in the photo of the mirror you will notice an allen set screw that holds the main mirror to the standoff post. I'm wondering if I were to loosen that set screw if the mirror would just pull up and off, providing there is enough slack in the wiring?

Try loosening the set screws and turning the face of the mirrors toward the coach. We had to do this in our old RV garage. With both mirrors facing the coach we had 1/4" on each side of the coach when passing through the door.

If you look at the configuration of the mirrors I believe you'll see the driver's side mirror is forward of the passengers side mirror. If you go in forward you can use that to your advantage. If you go extremely slow you can bias the motorhome toward the passengers side wall until you get the drivers side mirror past the door opening. Then steer to the left to get the passengers side mirror through.

We kept our motorhome in the same garage over 12 years. In all that time we never lost or scratched a mirror. As an aside we put over 100,000 miles on that motorhome in that time, so it went in and out of the garage frequently.

One last note. If you decide to try this put some kind of mark on the mirror head and the support arm (we used a dot of white paint on each). It'll make it a lot easier to reposition them after you depart the garage