This covers what you need to install aftermarket towing mirrors
                                                                        on the various years of Dodge Ram pickups.

For the years '94 to '06 there are three different situations.

      * '94 - '97     2nd Gen Body Style, power mirrors optional (no heated mirrors).
                  Trucks that have power mirrors will have a 3 wire connector in each door.
                  I don't know about trucks that did not have factory power mirrors. Please let me know.

      * '98 - '92     2nd Gen Body Style, power mirrors with heat optional.
                  All trucks will have a 6 wire connector in each door.

      * '03 - '06     3rd Gen Body Style, power mirrors with heat optional.
                  All trucks will have a 6 wire connector in each door.



1994 - 1997

These years had a power mirror option.  If the truck has power mirrors
it uses a 3 wire connector to the mirror.  This shows the door's socket 
and the plug on the mirror pigtail.  These 3 wires are different
colors on different trucks, but they serve these purposes:

        up/down     -  blue wire in pictures
        common      -  center wire
        right/left  -  yellow / red wire in pictures

To put Kool-Vue mirrors on a '94 - '97 truck that has these connectors,
you need to wire it like this:

        up/down wire to         Kool-Vue white wire #1
        common (center) wire to Kool-Vue blue wire #3
        right/left wire to      Kool-Vue yellow wire #2

        Read below for Kool-Vue wire color descriptions.

Without these reinforcement brackets your tow mirrors will vibrate a LOT!
These brackets will fit all year's doors.   The part numbers are:

If your '98 - '06 truck did not have heated mirrors you will still 
have the needed wiring.  The power mirror control parts for a 2001
are:
     56021311 SWITCH, Mirror
     56007040 KNOB, Power Mirror Switch
     06503107 NUT, Plastic, Mirror Mounting

If you didn't have heated mirrors, and want to do it exactly right
I understand that what you need to do is get a factory dashboard 
heater control panel, there is one available with a heated mirror 
control.  Then all you need to do is plug the behind the dash wiring 
harness into the right place on the new dashboard heater control panel.

The factory HVAC control for a '01 truckwith the mirror heat switch is:
     05015736AA CONTROL with A/C, Heater, with Power Mirrors  - $139.25
     05015737AA CONTROL w/o A/C, Heater, with Power Mirrors   - $111.10

If you have an earlier truck, or don't want to spend over $100 for
the "right" look, you can rig up an illuminated switch that controls
a relay to turn power on/off for the mirror heat.  That's what I'm
going to do.  Before it gets cold again  :-)

Aftermarket power heated tow mirrors are made by Kool-Vue.       There are at least two kits available, for the '98-'01, and for '02-'06.   The kit numbers are below.   Remember they are talking about model change years for the Ram 1500.

      This picture shows the towing mirrors in normal and towing modes.

I bought Kool-Vue mirrors from this source.  They were very helpful:

    Diehl Auto Parts
    24701 Telegraph Road
    Southfield, MI 48034

    1-248-350-0005

 
You have to phone to order the '98-'01 mirrors.  
As of 10/19/2008 they were $311.00 for the pair, plus shipping.
I noticed that they also now list the support brackets for $31.

    The '98-'01 mirror kit number is DG49ELR.   Use this one for '94 - '97.
    The '02-'06 mirror kit number is DG44ELR.  

Remember that when they say dates like '01/'02, they are talking about
the body style change dates for the Ram 1500.  For the Ram 2500/3500 
the body change was in '03, so the DG49ELR fits through the '02.

The '98-'01 kit will fit on a '94-'97 with a bit of wiring adaptation.  
My understanding is that the Kool-Vue mirrors will plug directly into 
the '98 and later Dodge Ram door wiring sockets.

The wiring on the Kool-Vue DG49ELR mirrors is similar, using the same 
wire numbers as in the diagram above, and copied below - the colors 
for the Kool-Vue 6 pin connector are as follows:

        1. White -  up/down
        2. Yellow - left/right
        3. Blue -   common

        4. heater - black
        5. heater - black
        6. empty

The left mirror works as follows:
-----------------------------------
Blue = Grnd  White +          move up
Blue +       White  = Grnd    move down
Blue = Grnd  Yellow +         move left  (out)
Blue +       Yellow = Grnd    move right (in)

The right mirror works as follows:
-----------------------------------
Blue = Grnd  White +          move up
Blue +       White = Grnd     move down
Blue = Grnd  Yellow +         move left  (in)
Blue +       Yellow = Grnd    move right (out)


To install the Kool-Vue DG49ELR mirrors on a '94-'97 truck,
you have to make a wiring adapter to connect the Kool-Vue
blue, yellow, and white wires to the correct wires of the
truck's 3 pin connector in the door.  See the pictures and
description clear back at the top of this web page.

I suggest visiting a junk yard and get the connector's off of both
door's power mirrors.  While you are there, find something like a
Dodge Caravan mini-van that had power heated mirrors.  They have a
(different) 6 pin male & female connector to each door's mirrors.
You can adapt these to have a 6 wire plug on the end of the pigtail
of the Kool-Vue mirrors.  Some of the Caravan 6 position plugs only
have 4 wires in them, so clip off several sets.  You can take the plugs
apart and add more wire connectors to them.  Make sure that you get
enough wire connectors so you can put 5 wires through each connector.

Now, on the Kool-Vue mirrors.  Take a vise-grip and unscrew
each of the mounting bolts sticking out and turn them around
and put them back in.  Use blue locktite.  As installed, the 
bolts don't have threads on the outer 1/8".  You will need
every bit of the bolt length if you are installing this by
yourself.

On the Kool-Vue mirrors going onto a '94-'97, you will have 
to break away just a little of the mirror's mounting flange.
Look at the #4 mirror on the parts diagram above.  It shows
the three mounting bolts sticking out.  What's not clear is
that the bolts are sticking through a 1/8" thick rubber gasket
pad.  Under that rubber pad, there is a flange that connects
the base of each bolt's mount on the mirror casting.

The Kool-Vue mirrors wire harness comes out of the mirror
below the lower two bolts shown in the diagram.  At least
the '94-'97 truck doors have the wiring harness entering 
the door in about the center of the 3 bolts.  I don't know
where the harness enters the doors on later models.

To get the Kool-Vue mirror wiring harness so it comes out of
the center of the bolt area, you have to bring the wiring
harness over the flange under the rubber pad.  If you don't 
remove a bit of that flange, the flange will pinch the wiring
harness between the mirror and the door.  You can grab onto
the flange with a vise-grip and break out a 3/4" chunk, that
will be enough to feed the wiring harness into the center
of the bolts for entry into the door.

The Kool-Vue mirrors come with a foam 'gasket' that goes
between the mirror and the truck body.  You have to feed the
wiring harness out through the middle of the gasket so that
it will go into the hole through the door.  

The Dodge reinforcement brackets come with a chunk of foam rubber 
glued onto their middle, you will have to pull that off so you can 
thread the wiring harness through the hole in the middle of the 
reinforcement brackets and into the inside of the door.

You will need six 6mm metric nuts for the Kool-Vue mirrors.
I suggest stainless nuts with nylon lock collars from the 
hardware store.

You can install the mirrors without completely removing the 
inner door panel.  Just remove the phillips screw at the top, 
and the ones in the door pull pocket area.  You can pry the 
door panel out enough to remove the old mirrors and install 
the new ones.

I didn't do this, and think I need to do it - I ought to
carve a bit on the original '96 chunk of foam that filled
the inside of the door opening, over the original mounting 
nuts.  I think if I stuff that back in, under the reinforcement 
bracket it may cure a slight wind whistle.

Here's pictures of the mirrors on my '96 truck.  Click on either 
picture to see a larger more detailed picture.  You should admire
the Sport Headlights gracing the front  :-)  
This link covers how to install dual bulb Sport Headlights.

As a note, another way of putting power heated tow mirrors on 
2nd gen trucks is to combine bases from 2nd gen non-power tow mirrors
with the outside part of 3rd gen power tow mirrors.  

You have to have two complete sets (2nd gen and 3rd gen) of Dodge tow 
mirrors to do this - which can be expensive.  Plus, I have read that 
the current production (after late '05) 3rd gen outside parts will no
longer fit on the 2nd gen bases.  Thes may or may not be true, so check
things before spending your $$.

A lot of this is covered on other forums,