The latch on my centerconsole/armrest in my 94 ranger is broken...Anybody got any idea on how to fix this? Sucks cause it should latch, but if i flip it up, all my stuff spills behind the seats.

 

Good Luck....more than likley you will have to replace it. I am looking for a replacement myself. all the plactic in mine is cracked from some leaning hard on it. Some guys have used rubber bands or a bungie to keep it closed till a better fix is avail.

 

I have taken the top off removed the cloth. Then used epoxy on all cracks and the broken latch finger.


Its a bad design and the epoxy is only a temporary fix.

 

Yeah I am looking for a more permanent soloution. I dont know what to do with this thing. It sucks

 

well..when I bought mine, I didn't have a center console lid. I cut a piece of osb, bent the piano hinge, stapled some padding and a good camo fabric over my wood, and screwed it in place. Then I put a drywall anchor right into the spot so it would go into the latch hole.. Worked great for while..but then you have to replace teh drywall anchors . so I ducktaped the thing closed. Works great and looks even better now.. warning: this method does not allow for use of center console for storage..

 

when i bought my truck mine was broken but the owner put a spring hing on it. it works for me. i will post pictures tomrrow of what i mean on how mine was fixed. to
late to take pictures at 1230 at night. ill post about 1 tomorrow after school.

 

I'm not exactly sure what piece your talkin about, but the armrest in my center console was busted off when I got my truck, and I actually took an armrest out of a 95-01 style exploder from the junkyard and it was a direct fit and the piece that was originally plastic in my truck was now a steel bracket in the sploder, ford musta figured out somethin along the way

 

Well the epoxy worked until a chic sat on it.

Full length exploder console is the best fix.

 

hope this helps you undertand what i did

 

^^^ I need to do that,thanks for the idea

 

I broke my arm rest that was such a poor design a few weeks before the warranty ran out (me not knowing the date) and when I went in, it had just expired the week before. The poorest design I've ever seen with that rest cantilevered out as far was it was from the hinge(fulcrum). So, I bought a new hinge assembly that had the plastic part, but not the padded arm rest. I made a T-Shaped brace out of some oak I had and screwed it to the plastic cantilever, just the exact distance from the top of the lid of the console box. . I then added a piece of craft foam to it so it rested on the foam between the wood and the plastic lid. Now it seems to rest perfectly and should support if I reach across it etc.
. I just need to get a knife and trim the excess of the foam off.

 

I hate to break it to you, but the console lid itself will also crack under pressure, and that kind of pressure is a good way to do it as well. You can't win with the shorty consoles.

 

You know, I should have thought of that and braced it better. We'll see what happens.

But I will say the engineers that designed this really didn't have their head in the right spot to design something like this. It's absolutely the poorest design of this type of thing I've ever seen. Very sad.

 

Agreed.

 

Fordzilla, just wondering, do you have any solutions to this type of console and armrest? Replacements? Better products??

Thanks,

 

Well for the armrest, Rockauto sells a metal hinge assembly that replaces the plastic assembly under the padding. So if that breaks again on you, buy this and you won't have to worry about it again.

Heritage Armrest

As for the console lid, you may be able to take it apart and wedge something in between the two layers to stiffen them up some.

 

I have looked everywhere for Console/Lid/Armrest etc at the site and find nothing on my search. Do you have a part/number etc? Thanks, :)

 

It's ARM100. If you search 1999 Ford Explorer 4.0 SOHC, and then look under interior, it will be the first listing. Should say Armrest.

 

Yep found it.. :) Thanks,

 

You're welcome.