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Old 01-09-2006, 03:56 PM   #1
Bill
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The mountains of Scottsdale, AZ, and the beaches of Maine
Posts: 10,088
Default How far should tow mirrors stick out?

In response to the recent thread on tow mirrors - here is an interesting experiment for everyone. Install your outboard mirrors (whatever kind), lower both of your tow vehicle's front windows, and pass a measuring tape through from one mirror to the other. Measure the distance from the center of the left mirror to the center of the right mirror. This measurement should be well in excess of 91", which is the width of the TM body (not including awning, etc).

On my Explorer, the stock mirrors are 77" apart, center-to-center. Not NEARLY enough to see back past the sides of the TM. When I mounted the McKesh mirrors right out of the box, they were 103" apart. In other words, each McKesh sticks out 6" beyond the side of the trailer. This lets me see down the sides of the TM, of course, but it is BARELY enough so that my left and right sight lines converge somewhere behind the TM. If the sight lines don't converge, you have no idea whether anyone is behind you, and to me, that is a requirement. A bit more spread is in order, and fortunately McKesh makes it easy to do.

I'd like to know other folks' experience. What are your measurements? Do you think they are adequate? Let's collect some data here.

Bill
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