How to Fix a Droopy Eyelid

Little things continue to pop up as you drive a restored truck for the second summer. The ’48 developed what my wife called a “droopy eyelid”. The sun visor would not stay in place, it tended to flop around and droop down across the windshield. You can see it in the picture of my granddaughter.

Now, the right thing to have done was to have bought a new visor during the restoration, but I wanted to keep every little piece as original as possible. I already had new upholstery on the visor before we found the droop. So, what to do? Answer, take it apart and look at it!

The first picture shows the way Willys secured the visor pivot in the mounting bracket. They used a spring, a flared tube on top of the pivot rod and a little bearing washer to hold everything in tension. Over the last 69 years, the flared tube has bent some and there may be something missing from the assembly because of the gap between the top of the spring and the flared tube. Everything just kind of flopped around loose.

The second picture shows the approach I took to try a fix. I needed to fill the gap between the top of the spring, so I added a couple of turns of #12 copper wire. I tapped the flare a bit, but it wasn’t going to move much and I could break it if I got too enthusiastic. Quit while you're ahead. After I made the second picture, I split a lock-washer and slipped it under the lower bearing washer to tighten the spring a bit more.

How did it work? Better that I hoped. The visor stays where I put it, but initially it wasn’t level. Simple fix to that – bend the sucker up where you want it! The whole project took about an hour, but it adds a lot to the overall appearance of the truck.