Since I got the 4Runner, the right side of the cup holder seemed to have a broken spring, as the arm would not retract on its own.
It turns out it wasn’t a busted spring, but a broken post where the spring attached.
There are 2 tabs that need to be overcome to remove the cup holder, as seen at the bottom of the image here.
This can be done using 2 wooden shims or anything resembling them. The trick is to only pull the holder out enough to get them in place. This won’t work if the tray is completely extended.
Once in place, simply remove the cupholder tray.
Remove three screws to access the damaged pin(s)
Remove the cover
You can see the “good” post in the foreground, where the gold spring is connected.
Here’s the broken post.
The plan is to replace that broken post with a nail. (and as long as we’re in this deep, might as well replace them both)
It proved difficult to keep the bit straight while drilling through what was left of the post.
So I heated a nail and pushed it through like a hot knife through butter.
Checking fitment on the first post replacement. The nail needs to be trimmed but it should work like new.
I clipped the nails with some diags but they still needed a little shortening with the fake Dremel.
Being ever so confident that my work was perfect and would not need to be undone, I reached for the JB-Weld to secure the nails.
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