Flummoxed by arm rest cubby!

Has anyone successfully had this to bits? If so, what am I doing wrong!?!



One of the clips on my arm rest has bust off, the one that holds the inner tray (13) to the lid (12). Looking at the exploded diagram I ***umed an easily fitted four quid part (21) would fix it. An hour of head scratching later I'm stuck!

Part 12 and the padded cover come off in one lump by removing the two pozis at the hinge (14).

Tonight I discovered the arm rest slides back and forth! Still didn't get me any nearer the missing clip though.

The padded bit is screwed on, and some of the screws are hidden inside the arm rest -so that's not the way in. I can't find a way to separate the two halves of sliding mechanism -so that's not the way in either. In spite of much (careful) prizing and writhing there doesn't appear to be any popable clips.

I'm pretty sure the way in is through the lower panel of the lid. The bit with two recessed bits (I'm guessing they're for fitting a phone kit?) doesn't seem to want to come off. Is it perhaps glued in position permanently?

The offending panel is shown uppermost shown here:



Any clues much appreciated!

Are there any screws under the rubber stops near the missing clip?

Nope! They just pull out and push in. No screws or retaining catch that I can see under there.

I only presume the thing comes apart because the clips are available as a spare part. If they can't be changed, why supply them!?

I thought the recesses were for business cards?

Perhaps a bit of gentle brute force is what's needed to pop it off the runner?

A little trip to the scrappy might be an idea so you can brake a donor one?

Dan Robinson said:

I thought the recesses were for business cards?

Perhaps a bit of gentle brute force is what's needed to pop it off the runner?

A little trip to the scrappy might be an idea so you can brake a donor one?

Click to expand...

:lol:

Sorted! I'll post my solution later...

This problem has been more addictive than a Rubix cube! Anyhow, much head scratching later, I've sorted it.
My method, should you need to do the same follows (a bit picture heavy, but worth a thousand words?)...

The way into the arm rest IS by separating the sliding runner, but it's not easy. In spite of the catches being available as spares, I don't think it was ever designed to come apart once ***embled.

You will need a torch, two slim steel rulers, two flat blade screwdrivers, excellent eyesight and infinite patience.

Begin by extending the upper arm rest on its slider to about 1/2" short of its full extent. There are two sets of two stops. One set, the ones attached to the lower part, are barely visible with a torch from the end of the ***embly and are covered in felt anti-rattle tape. The other set are effectively hidden, and are attached to the upper arm rest part.



Using the ribs as a guide, slip a ruler each side of the centre line from the retaining catch end of the arm rest.



When you hit the stop wriggle the rulers so they ride over the stop and sit between the top of the stop and the upper arm rest. Perhaps easiest to see in a thumbnail sketch:





Slide in the screwdrivers between the ruler and the upper arm rest. Use flat blades (rather than cross point) to act as a wedge. You’re aiming to flex the upper arm rest at the point of the slide-stop just enough to allow the hidden half of the stop to just clear the visible half of the stop.



Something like this, only you can’t see what you’re doing as the top is still on and you’re doing it with two rulers and two screwdrivers at the same time!



This is tricky!

Slide the upper and lower parts apart to reveal a new set of screws which allow the removal of the metal slide plate. With this removed lift out the two-dished tray to gain access to the broken retaining catches.

Reassembly is straight forward.

An accurately made tool of just the right dimensions might achieve the same result (easier) by going in from the other end, but until you've had it apart there's no way of knowing what size and shape to make it!

Well done bud! Glad to see I weren't so far off .

It would appear that once again TinyPic has let me down for picture hosting (I now use Photo Bucket) so many of my long-time-spent-creating drawings are no longer available
If anyone is interested I have the write up as a PDF (complete with pictures) -just drop me a PM and I'll send it on.
Oh, and take a look at Jon Stead's version too...

Owing to recent changes in Photobucket’s image hosting service some of the information contained in this thread may have been lost.

Until I’ve found a suitable alternative image hosting service, and the time to re-write the post I have uploaded the original as a PDF here:

http://jmp.sh/SGnnNzQ

Note that this is also uses a free hosting service, which may change its T&Cs in time, or go off line entirely. Until then though, it may help someone…