Aftermarket Tow Mirrors on my '12 Tundra Not Folding

I recently purchased a 2012 Tundra that has tow mirrors on it. Since buying it, I have learned from my local Toyota service center that the mirrors were aftermarket so the button that indicated folding mirrors is meant for the stock mirrors and these mirrors must be folded manually, however, when trying to fold these mirrors manually I have to pull so hard I feel like they are going to break and I haven't got them folded in out of worry that I would snap some sort of support that keeps them sturdy. Has anyone else had issues with folding their aftermarket Tundra tow mirrors?

 

Post pics of the mirrors. There are different ones. Maybe someone will be able to identify them.

 

You need to pull one and check out the wiring.
Did the truck have electric folding mirrors stock?
Is there a stock switch to fold them?

 

There is a stock button to fold the mirrors. I had the guys at the Toyota dealership look at them and they said the original mirrors were the non-tow mirrors and that these were added aftermarket and were from Toyota, however, these mirrors didn't have the folding ability that the stock mirrors did. This has just made me wonder why these mirrors won't budge when I try to fold them. Maybe the Toyota guys told me the wrong thing, I will take them apart myself and take a look! Will post any images of concern. Thank you!

 

It's not like a Toyota tech would be wrong...
When I bought my 2014 and asked what the box was under the passenger's seat, they said it was the ECU.
Turns out, it's the factory audio amp..

There may be a chance that whoever installed the tow mirrors didn't care about the folding feature.
Or maybe they aren't power-folding, but as you stated, seems it would be easy to fold them if they weren't.

Check and see if there are more wires to the mirror than just what is in the plug.
I have no idea if those aftermarket mirrors come with a stock plug or if everything has to be tapped into oem wiring..

You can pull the door sail off and see one side of the plug.
It literally just pulls off., at least it does in my 2014..



But you'll need to remove the mirror to see the other side.
If you need to end up taking the mirrors off, you'll have to pull the door panel, but that is pretty easy.
If you do need to remove the mirrors, DO NOT drop any of the 3 nuts into the door.
It doesn't fall all the way through and it took me 2 hours to fish one of them out..

If you need wiring diagrams for the mirror plug you can find them here.
I can post the diagrams from 2015 but I'm not sure that would be the same for your 2012.

Ultimate Wiring Diagrams Collection | Toyota Tundra Forum (tundras.com)

Keep us posted..

 

Look like oem tow mirrors to me.

 

It is possible the previous owner had power folding mirrors but didn't feel like spending the extra $ to buy the power tow versions.

 

Perfect, I will take a look at that here soon and will keep you posted. Thank you so much for the help!

 

The joys of buying previously owned trucks lol

 

Been there done that a hundred times lol

 

I figured out the issue, which resulted in needing just to bite the bullet and buy brand new OEM towing mirrors, unfortunately. Turns out that the mirrors were manual-folding like I assumed, however, the gears had rusted out inside of the housing somehow. Got them to fold successfully a few times but the most recent time completely broke the gears and now the mirrors fold and swivel freely. Bunch of the plastics broke as well... Thanks all for the help!

 

Thank you for the update Sir..