McKesh mirrors on 2008 generation 4Runner - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

anchorwood · 08-08-2021, 10:27 PM

On another forum, a guy said he got rid of McKesh mirrors because the mount smashed down the door window gaskets on his 2008 generation Toyota 4Runner.

By adding a little strip of wood to each mount, I came up with a perfectly good solution. I've used the excellent McKesh mirrors for several years with no damage at all to the window gaskets.

I don't recall the exact dimensions of the wood strip, and it's not where I can measure it right now. But I would guess it's about 3/4 inch wide by 3/8 or 5/16 inch thick. Below are pictures of the mounted mirror on the driver's side, a view of the mount from above, and a picture of the wood strip looking up from the bottom.

The window trim on these 4Runners consists of a hard plastic ledge, with a soft rubber gasket that normally presses lightly on the glass. The wood strip is spaced far enough from the fingers that go into the window slot to allow room for the gasket. It lifts the McKesh mount up so that the metal fingers don't touch the top of the flexible rubber gasket. They do pull it to the side a little, but the gasket springs back into place after removal of the mount and any distortion is gone by the next day or so. I've had the mirrors mounted for as long as two weeks with no permanent distortion of the gasket.

I used oak but any wood will do. Note the bolts are inset on the bottom to avoid any scratching of the vehicle during mounting. With this easy modification, I couldn't be happier with my McKesh mirrors.

JackandJanet · 08-09-2021, 12:27 AM

Roger, that's great! And I think this can be a great help for anyone wanting to add tow mirrors to their 4Runners. I can recall how frustrated I was when I first got my HiLo and was towing it with a Nissan Frontier. There was nothing I could find to use as a tow mirror except ones that attached to the existing mirrors with bungee cords (and they were useless) and then I found something a bit like what you have, but they were not kind to the paint on the door as I remember. And, if it rained, the nylon strap stretched when wet so the mirrors became loose.

- Jack

cva34 · 08-09-2021, 07:21 AM

Can't find for New Ford Ranger 2019 either..ordered with Tow Pac too