OK Escalade forum, here is what I'm thinking. If you have not encountered this issue yet, you are likely to at some point if you keep your truck long enough. The automatic folding feature (to roll them in when parked) will fail especially if you are driving an 07 or 08 due to age, but certainly can happen to even new ones if the mirror is hit or bent without the use of the motor. Its exacerbated if you live in the cold weather which makes the nylon/plastic part become brittle and break/fail. Below you will see the culprit behind this problem that not only affects Escalade owners but any GM truck that has these mirrors with the automatic folding feature. That's thousands upon thousands of Suburbans, Tahoes, Yukons and Silverados manufactured from 2007 to 2014. Its GM using a substandard product and saving a mere few cents literally. Take a look at this part below. This part cannot be purchased separately and from what I can tell neither can the actual motor that drives this wormgear with the nylon sprocket attached. The wormgear is made of metal and the nylon/plastic sprocket is fused onto it. It's a poor design and should have been changed years ago from the sub supplier but that's a different issue. The motor is found inside the frame and its a sealed unit. The motor doesn't have a part number nor do any of the components inside it. Its a real bummer that the only solution is to buy an entire mirror assembly from the dealer or scrounge around on eBay to find a used one that will likely have to be painted to match or will break soon after installing it. Its incredibly frustrating that a part that costs less than a dollar can render a mirror inoperable. No, we don't have to have this feature and can certainly live without it but once this sprocket breaks, it's no longer under tension inside the motor and thus the mirror will shake and vibrate when going down the road. The mirror design on these trucks have caused so many unhappy customers with this issue coupled with the wind noise over the years. Its beyond me why GM doesn't have a small Tiger team that chases issues like this and assembles cost effective solutions to provide remedies across all of its product lines. In the absence of that, I am going to attempt to fix this issue for myself and others. If I can have this small part manufactured and buy them in affordable lots, I can either provide them for "do-it-yourselfers" or have people send me their broken mirrors to be repaired. I do not know yet what is a fair price to charge for this but I know it will far less than buying a new or used mirror. I took mine apart (not easy) and worked my way down to this crummy little broken piece of plastic.
Currently I am sending the part out to for quotes to have it fabricated. My preference would be to have it made from solid metal but I will listen to what the fabricator has to say and whether the entire part (wormgear) needs to be made or just the sprocket. If nothing else, I will learn a lot during this process.
Wish me luck and Stay tuned.......
Currently I am sending the part out to for quotes to have it fabricated. My preference would be to have it made from solid metal but I will listen to what the fabricator has to say and whether the entire part (wormgear) needs to be made or just the sprocket. If nothing else, I will learn a lot during this process.
Wish me luck and Stay tuned.......
