How To Fix Back Of Center Arm Rest

Post by **MrAl** » 15 Jul 2016, 07:27

Hello there,

A while back while sitting in the drivers seat i leaned a little too far to the right and pushed the center arm rest over too far, and the hinge bent and it broke the back section of the arm rest where the second cigar lighter is located. I would like to repair that or replace it somehow.

For one thing, the hinge itself is way under designed, with the metal being too thin. The plastic on the back must be too thin too. What a cheap way to design such a thing. The arm rest swings up to reveal a compartment underneath, but it must weight in at some 5 pounds so it should have had a strong hinge and tough plastic mount. It's kind of a silly mechanism too, where there is no latch or lock to keep it shut, only the weight. And also no front supports to keep the front part of the movable part from swaying right or left and flexing the cheap cheap hinge. If i had to guess i would have said that part was designed not by Volvo but by Chevy

This is typical of what i seem to find on this car though, on the one end of the spectrum. Some things are designed really really good, and other things are designed really really stupidly. It's one or the other

So now i have to fix it. Any ideas how this should be done? Where do you get a replacement for that?
Or should i just redesign it so it is as strong as it really should be?

Thanks for any ideas on this and any experience with this.

Post by **erikv11** » 15 Jul 2016, 08:48

The center arm rest does have a latch, it latches shut on the center console. Maybe on yours the latch was broken already.

The best way to fix the hinge mount would be to replace the center console, that's what I would do. You can maybe get a new arm rest at the same time, one with a latch. Or is the latch there, but its attachment broken on the console? That would also point to a new console. Fairly easy piece to grab at the pick-n-pull.

obayha · Post by **obayha** » 15 Jul 2016, 10:13

Pick and Pull is easiest way. I am getting ready to throw an old one away. Pretty sure it is in good shape, just tired of holding onto everything.
Let me know if you can't find one and pay for shipping on this one.
Shane

Post by **abscate** » 15 Jul 2016, 10:17

If you have the charcoal grey interior, JB Weld is almost invisible - it is invisible if you add a bit of carbon black to it.

skloon · Post by **skloon** » 15 Jul 2016, 11:59

I did this too had a hard time finding a good one at picknpull so I cut the back out a bad one and attached to my old one with epoxy and a couple of torx screws and some hidden aluminum to reinforce- better than new and you cant see that part unless the seats are reclined

Post by **MrAl** » 15 Jul 2016, 13:41

erikv11 wrote:The center arm rest does have a latch, it latches shut on the center console. Maybe on yours the latch was broken already.

The best way to fix the hinge mount would be to replace the center console, that's what I would do. You can maybe get a new arm rest at the same time, one with a latch. Or is the latch there, but its attachment broken on the console? That would also point to a new console. Fairly easy piece to grab at the pick-n-pull.

Hi,

Yes mine never had a latch when i got the car. So i guess it was missing all along.
That is probably why it broke so easy then, because the latch would have prevented the front from swaying too far and thus stress the plastic at the back.

Post by **MrAl** » 15 Jul 2016, 13:42

obayha wrote:Pick and Pull is easiest way. I am getting ready to throw an old one away. Pretty sure it is in good shape, just tired of holding onto everything.
Let me know if you can't find one and pay for shipping on this one.
Shane

Hello,

Oh you have one you dont need? What color is it?
Thanks for the offer.

Post by **MrAl** » 15 Jul 2016, 13:45

skloon wrote:I did this too had a hard time finding a good one at picknpull so I cut the back out a bad one and attached to my old one with epoxy and a couple of torx screws and some hidden aluminum to reinforce- better than new and you cant see that part unless the seats are reclined

Hi,

If i could see a picture of one that was fully intact, with latch too, then maybe i would know how to fix that too. If it comes to that i might do that also, with the epoxy. I already have a lot of that JB weld stuff, both the fast cure and slow cure. Obviously i had a lot of stuff to fix in the past

(broke the plastic window off of a car battery charger ampere meter and did not want the needle to get damaged, so i had to construct a new one with plexiglass and epoxy for example).

skloon · Post by **skloon** » 15 Jul 2016, 16:16

I thought the latch was just a magnet

Post by **erikv11** » 15 Jul 2016, 17:19

I wonder if I am wrong and the S/V70 doesn't have a latch, but something like a magnet as skloon suggests. I know the 850 has a latch because a few years ago I had to deal with the console breaking where the latch hooks to it. I will check my x70 cars tonight, see what I see too.