Bongo Fury

Steve - I'll try and do that. I'm not electrically minded but have at last bought a multimeter so should be able to do something But I wont be trying ot re-attach the mirror to the car until I've stripped it down etc. May be the weekend (at Charity Farm, if weather allows) before I get to test wires etc.

Mike

PS - just plucked the glass off using a sucker, just as Vic suggested. What a star that man is - I'd never have thought that would work, but it came off easy. I think I might have broken it trying the lever method, as I hadnt realised that it is a square mounting disc that has to be separated. I thought it was the ball and socket in the middle of the mirror - WRONG!

Ok mike, this is a long shot... the problem you are having with your mirror is exactly the same as i had with mine. I replaced mine in the end with a second hand unit.

I was looking over a bongo the other week, when i noticed what looked like insulation tape between the groove from the mirror housing to the mirror base plate (the pivot point) The mirror had some play in it (up and down) compared to the other side,and compared to mine.... My suspicions are that a temporary repair has been done using the tape as a spacer to "lift" the mirror enough to engage the small gears. It seemed to work perfectly when i tested it,but somebody has been messing with it.

Has your offending mirror got play in it in an up and down direction? compare its anchorage to the other mirror... Just a thought...

Dont think so BigD.

Sitrep. I dismantled the gearbox tonight and found a broken (plastic) shaft - the other gearwheel shafts are metal. It is a thick shaft and caries the gearwheel that engages with a gearwheel concentric with the main pivot that the wing mirror swigns on. The recess for the top of that shaft had also fractured. I've araldited it tonight. Horrible job, as the gearbox is packed with some kind of plastic grease. So I had to do my best at degreasing the faces to be glued, try and ensure no glue gets into the gearwheels even though the gearbox really has to be reassembled with the glue not set but blind (in order to ensure correct jigging) and the wheels and shafts etc have to be prepacked as best as possible with grease ready for reassembly before the glue goes off. And no grease must get back on the gluing faces. I used the Panel Wipe you gave me, on cotton buds, to degrease (hope its as good as they say it is - I would normally use Meths). Its all back together now and I'll leave it a day for the araldite to gain strength (maybe longer) before I see if it works. I'm frankly not optimistic - its a mad job to attempt - but then my epitaph is 'the pessimist who is happy to be proved wrong' so you never know. I'll have to take the bloody door panel off to connect and test it of course.


Keep you posted

MIke

Hi again,
No luck trying to replace the motor so tried to locate a second hand drivers door mirror. I rang several breakers but no one seems to have one. I have posted a request on the stuff wanted just in case someone knows of one or has a broken one which I may be able to save the motor from and fit into my mirror.
Mike hows your repair going?
Steve

Pessimists are the happiest people on the planet Mike. They spend their lives either being proved right or getting a pleasant surprise. Optimists are usually wrong and disapointed.

spot on SM - not many people have worked out what I mean when I say that! Cant wait to try the device this evening. It'll either work, or it wont.

Steve1259 - I've been thinking to myself, if I cant get it working well it just goes back on as a non folding mirror. Hardly the end of the world as I regard folding wing mirrors as little more than a fun gadget anyway (never had them before!).

Will try and do the electrical test you asked about tonight but dont expect much as I'm no leckie!

Mike

Hi Mike - I think that there is some really useful wing mirror repair detail here, I wonder if a factsheet could be put together? I have just reviewed a large number of factsheets for Ian, and I think that this would be a good addition.

One repair method that has worked for me on broken plastic shafts, is to drill a very small hole into both ends of the broken shaft and to use a small piece of paperclip super glued into place to re-enforce the repair.

Spot on chris-m. I'm going to see if my 1st attempt holds. If it doesnt, I'll try again using the technique you describe. I've done this kind of thing before with good results.

One question. Anyone know what the grease is that they put in these gearboxes. The sutff in mine looks a bit like butter, almost a bit waxy, though I suspect that is partly cos its 12yrs old and a bit dried out.

I'll try and find time to do a factsheet. In the meantime I'll post any more pics on photobucket alongside the ones already there.

Mike

Hello,
Found a second hand mirror at a breakers but they wanted £75.00 plus P & P for it
For that money mines going back on as a non electrical folding type. I will just have to put my arm out the window and push/pull it untill I find one at a more resonable price.
Mike hope your repair works.
Steve

SITREP

Well I've had a time of it tonight. Went to try the repaired unit and b*gger me, it worked perfectly. Cheers all round until I load tested it (had to really) and the repair broke. Took it inside, stripped it down again, cleaned off old glue. This time I decided I had to try and pin it with a stel insert at the base of the broken plastic shaft (a piece of steel nail fitted nicely into the hole/void at shaft base (a happy accident of the moulding process). The problem then was drilling a hole in the gearbox casing correctly so the shaft was centred and gears meshed OK. Then I noticed a little araldite had weeped through the casing bottom. Ah ha! This meant there must be a hole there already (hadnt noticed this last night). Cleaned araldite out and now had locating holed for the steel pin to be glued into. I decided the top lughole, the wall of which had also fractured, could also be made good by dutting out a sleeve reinforcement from some brass tube I keep for modelling purposes. This worked a treat. So its all glued up and ready for reassembling and trying again. If this repair doesnt work, I'm out of luck and ideas.

I'm uploading pics of work in progress as I write (into photobucket to add to previous pics) so I hope those will help explain what I've done. I couldnt call the job fun though, trying to degrease some areas for gluing whilst making sure grease remains where it needs to be and glue doesnt run into the works and foul them up. And my wife cursing cos she wants household chores doing etc and this isnt the sort of work that goes well if you are being harassed (as any modeller will tell you)

Fiingers crossed.

Mike

PS - Link to photobucket:


http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x259 ... 20Removal/

So Mike when are you planning to bring out your own workshop manual?
I'm sure you could show Haynes a thing or two, plus your english will be better than the existing translated manual

Fingers crossed for you. Keep up the good work.

P.S
It would be good idea to buy yourself a larger memory card, for when you decide strip and rebuild the engine!!

Cheers brora, and your remarks are spot on because the wing mirros, and removing them etc. is not covered by the workshop manual grrrrrrrrr.

Steve - while I remember, I put the multimeter on the motor when I tested it earlier. I dont know if this helps, but all I could ascertain was that there was a voltage across both red and green wires when mirror was retracted, but no voltage when in the opened out position. voltage was about 9v but I wouldnt read anything into this as with only 2 hands and having to hold the mirror unit in my lap next to the door, the only earth I could find was a bolt on the door assembly - not v good. Hope this may help anyway. Oh, also the voltage seemed to drop as the mirror moved out, but hard to tell as the multimeter lags in response anyway I suspect, when voltage is switched off.


Fingers crossed for the test tomorrow.

Mike

SITREP - and you're not going to believe this.

Good News - the 2nd attempt at repair seems to have worked beautifully and the mirror opens and closes as it should. Fantastic

Bad News - Just as I was finally opening the mirrors, the drivers side one went just like the nearside one. WHY NOW!?!?!?!?! SO that one has to come off and be fixed. But at least I am now a master of the job and will know exactly what to do (never speak to soon). I think I'll take the bits to Charity Farm and may do it there, so there is the possibility of a Wing Mirror Repair Master Class for those interested. Admission fee - 1 beer (cold, lager, 5%, gassy)

Mike

Snap, I had the same scenario here a while back and the other sides knacked now. I used a 9mm drill bit to replace the plastic shaft (modified somewhat from the original drill) http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... highlight=

Thanks ChrisEm, so you're the elusive man with the 9mm drill bit solution. I actually pinned it with a cut off length of nail, glued into the moulding hole revealed at the base of the broken plastic shaft, and then through what seemed to be an existing hole in base of the gearbox casing. Seems sound. I'm tryinf to understand how you did it with a drill bit. Firstly, how did you cut the hardened steel to a correct length. Second, I presume the 9mm bit was a perfect size for the gearwheel to slip on to. Thirdly, how did you get the drill bit to hold in place at the top end as there is a lughole intended to retain / support the plastic shaft at its upper end, but this is a lot smaller than 9mm. Also, I imagine you had to drill out a big hole in the gearbox casing for the 9mm bit to slot through. Bad news if the drilling is not correctly centred. I'd be interested to hear more about how you did it though as - properly done, it must provide a strong repair.