Well like countless others, my cup holder finally broke. I found an easy fix so I figured I'd share.

Materials:
Painter's tape
JB Weld epoxy (yes, to my delight this actually bonds to the black plastic on the cupholder. See photo)
Bamboo Skewer (those long toothpick like things your wife has in the kitchen draw)

If you look at the cupholder, you will see it pivots on an axis at its lower front edge. Further scrutiny will show the cupholder has a small cylindrical protrusion on each side that fits into a female receptacle in the armrest.

One receptacle is a complete cup (continuous wall), on reassembly that side of the cupholder is inserted directly into the receptacle on the armrest.

The receptacle on the other side has a break in the wall at the bottom, maybe 1/2mm smaller than the diameter of the protrusion on the cupholder. This allows that side to snap into place. The cup holder's spring provides forward force so the walls of the 2 receptacles hold it in place.

Both of the plastic walls on the receptacles were broken, the cup holder forced itself forward and wouldn't stay shut.

Issue: how do I rebuild the walls while maintaining the inside diameter to receive the protrusions on the cupholder?

Then it hit me - I've worked with epoxy before, painter's tape does not bind to it.

I pulled out my micrometer and measured. The protrusion on the cupholder is 4.5mm os diameter. I searched around for something close and found the bamboo skewers. They are 3.3mm diameter. So it was just a matter of breaking one to length (14.5mm between the two female receptacles in the armrest.) Then wrapping the painter's tape until the os diameter was 4.5mm.

I inserted the skewer, which now fit perfectly side to side in the armrest

Shows the wrapped Skewer in place before gluing.

Measuring the od of the protrusion
receptacles.

I applied the epoxy glue to the broken areas allowing for the small gap on one side. This brand of glue promises it cures to full strength in 1 hour, I gave it overnight.

Good news, it works perfectly! Thought it might help someone.

John

 

Courtesy update. Turns out the plain old Devcon brand epoxy did not wear as well as I expected. Dog stood on it and the glue broke free.

I purchased the Devcon Plastic epoxy to fix things - world of difference. Gets rock hard after 36 hours. Oh yeah, its dog proof too :-)

Just remember the painter's tape and bamboo skewers to form the female receptacle for the sprung holder, works wonderfully.

John