My rearview mirror has constantly vibrated loose. The reason is twofold. First is the corrugated side panels, which don't allow support of the mirror base over its full area. The second drawback is that the mirror is fastened with lag screws (shorter screw in the photo, just above the drill) into plywood.

Over a period of time, the screw holes deteriorate. Even though I twice filled (with J-B Weld mixed with aluminum chips) and redrilled the holes, they didn't hold.

So this time, I did what I hope will be a permanent fix, using Crown Bolt House-Mates Insert Nuts, 1/4"-20 (P/N 148451, bought at Home Depot). To install, I used the recommended 11/32" drill, but the instructions specified the wrong hex wrench (6mm is right, 5mm is not). The insert and the machine screw are at the upper left, and the epoxy is already mixed.

Each insert was liberally coated with standard J-B Weld and turned into place. The mirror was then remounted with the screws slightly loosened (to hold alignment without putting a strain) while the expoxy cured.



The biggest pain was that the wires to the mirror weren't long enough to allow the mirror to completely clear the work area, so I had to hang it from alternate bolts while I did the job.

Hi Rusty,

I had to reinstall my passenger side mirror earlier this year because I ripped it off driving out of our RV barn. It had to be removed completely so I could repair it before reattaching it. You're right about the short wires; they were a real pain. I was lucky that I was able to get the next size lag bolt into the holes on the mirror arm so I did not have to put in the inserts you mentioned (that was plan B).

The one thing I did that helped a lot was to apply a thick strip of butyl rubber to the base of the arm. It not only sealed off the the gap between the mirror arm & the the corrugated aluminum but because it is very sticky it helped hold the mirror in place as well. The butyl rubber comes in an 8"- 10" roll but not many RV dealers carry it. Most of them carry "putty tape" which is no way near as good. Butyl rubber also comes in black, white and gray.

Velvac was very helpful & provided me with advice, diagrams & instructions for the repair & reinstallation of the mirrors. I also cut some of the internal wires and installed snap connectors to make repairs easier.

Yeah, not shown are the rubber spacers I made for top and bottom - that helped, but the mounting holes were too far gone by the time I bought the coach.