DIY $1, 15 min. Glovebox Repair Write up

[callahanoffroad]

Hello fellow Volvo enthusiasts!

If you drive an 850, odds are at some point your glove box latch is going to fail. If you have anything in there it is locked in there permanently and protected from anyone (including yourself) who may want to remove the contents of your glove box. This has happened to me twice on two different 850's. The first time I got rear-ended and needed my insurance documents for the police. I couldn't get to them without breaking the box open. The second time, I was lucky to not have anything but napkins in there. So removal wasn't necessary. Eventually I disassembled the glove box and just used it as a cubby hole for a few months. Today I finally got around to fixing it and wanted to share how.

Because I never store any valuables in my glovebox I decided that a proper locking latch repair was unnecessary and very likely to fail again. What I needed was a simple latch that would simply hold the door closed.

The latch I used.

Everbilt Double Roller Catch

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I used a simple Double Roller Catch made by Everbilt. Total cost $1.07 with tax. Available at your local Home Depot.

I picked this because these are used on RV's to keep the cabinets from opening as you drive. I figure if they work for that it should work to keep a 10 ounce glove box door closed.

Here's some pictures of the mounting location I chose and how I mounted the catch and spear.

Spear mounted on Glove Box Door.

Roller Catch in relationship to Glovebox

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I chose a spot slightly to the left of the original latch location. It made it easy to align everything. Align and Mark the location of all the pieces. It doesn't have to be perfect these catches are fairly generous in their grip area.

All you need to do is drill four #6 pilot holes with a drill and then sink four #6 1/2" wood screws to hold everything together. The packet came with 4 screws but I didn't like them so I used the #6 screws instead. Be careful not to use screws that are too long or else the glovebox insert will not slide back into the dash.

Close up view of the #6 screws and catch location.

Like I said this is a super easy project.

The most difficult part was screwing the #6 screws into the insert and getting the insert to slide back in properly. You may want to sink them halfway and then tighten them down. That's what I ended up doing.

Finished view from Drivers Seat, nice and flush

From the Passenger side

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Use the original handle to pull the door open.

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[erikv11]

One of mine I rebuilt the latch proactively with the socket head cap screw method many years ago but the other one is a time bomb for me ...

This is a great tip, worth adding as one of the preventive maneuvers to consider. Some of the other ones suggested by MVS members: velcro, modify the latch hook access so you can just uncsrew it from the front when needed (then drop in another junkyard latch, rinse and repeat).

[callahanoffroad]

One of mine I rebuilt the latch proactively with the socket head cap screw method many years ago but the other one is a time bomb for me ...

This is a great tip, worth adding as one of the preventive maneuvers to consider. Some of the other ones suggested by MVS members: velcro, modify the latch hook access so you can just uncsrew it from the front when needed (then drop in another junkyard latch, rinse and repeat).

The other cheap but easy ideas I came up with were a magnetic setup, and a soft touch cabinet close (only $2). I thought "how freaking cool would it be to soft touch your glove box?" The answer is very cool.

I did velco on my last one but it was messy and didn't work so well.

[matthew1]

The other cheap but easy ideas I came up with were a magnetic setup, and a soft touch cabinet close (only $2).

Two dollars?! That's like 80% more than this "regular" fix. Cost prohibitive.

Great writeup, Ryan. I'll add this to the Repair Database.