Chevy & GMC Vans

I leaned too hard on the passenger armrest the other day, and it collapsed. I didn't come off, it just moves beyond the down position now.

Did this happen to anybody else, and is it repairable or do you have to replace?

Metal post in a plastic guide ... brilliant.
I guess I need to find a grey cloth armrest now.

Looks like you can remove the metal part and then repair the plastic with a bit of epoxy.

CaptSquid wrote:Looks like you can remove the metal part and then repair the plastic with a bit of epoxy.

Tried this and it instantly broke again. I'm thinking of reinforcing it with metal.

JB-weld that sucker...

or install a V8...your choice...

justice wrote:JB-weld that sucker...

Yeah I tried epoxy, but it does't bond to the waxy plastic .... probably nylon. I'll either snag one from the JY and pull the cloth from mine over it, or put a strip of metal around the inside of the groove.

I have two in my new van that are broken. I'm using 1/2" OD copper pipe & a flat piece soldered together. The flat part will go under the torx screw & the pipe part will fit inside the groove. The grove is just over 1/2" wide. I'll get pics up once together & tested. JB weld did nothing for me the first time on the arm rest. It just pushed past the repair.

hmm... pipe.

Now you've got me thinkin ...

justice wrote:or install a V8...your choice...

I agree that this is probably the best repair option for a broken arm rest. Who needs arm rests when your pasted to the seat!

Got it! My repair has worked well for now...I have not been able to really test it as I cannot get my van to start! I removed a keyless entry / remote starter that was causing all kinds of electrical issues and now no start! I'll get some pics up of my arm rest repair as soon as I can. It was about a $1 fix for two arm rests. I'll also post when / if they break.

timelessbeing wrote:hmm... pipe.

Now you've got me thinkin ...

Where are you at on this repair? Jim

Here's what I did...took some 1/2 inch couplers (copper) and cut them in half. These are 1/2" OD and 3/8" ID. flattened one half and ground it to match the radius of the c shape. A hole was drilled in the flat piece to go under the torx screw closest to the damaged spot. Soldered them together. So far it's been a week or so & they work fine! Here's some pics for you all. Total cost was about $2. Errr! I cannot upload pics! I get this messege. "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached." What's up with this? I've resized them per limitations. Any suggestions? I can email pics if you pm me. Sorry!

astroturf wrote:Where are you at on this repair? Jim

It's on the backburner for the moment.

risteff wrote: Errr! I cannot upload pics! I get this messege. "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached." What's up with this? I've resized them per limitations. Any suggestions? I can email pics if you pm me. Sorry!

I appreciate the fact that you are trying to help members by uploading pics, so don't take what I am going to say as a personal slam.
In the past when members would get that message we would increase the board quota so members without personal accounts at places like Photobucket would still be able to quickly upload a photo to the site that might possibly help someone out, we explained numerous times that we would prefer that members get their own off-site photo-host to link their photos because we couldn't just continue to increase the board quota all the time, despite this request, we still had members uploading thru the attachments until the board quota maxed out again and again, we finally had to stop increasing the board quota, which is where you now run into the problem, so the only work-around is to get you're own photo-host and link you're pics from there to here, hope this explains the reasons why you can no longer upload using the attachments options.