'04 LS430 Ashtray Alternative
08-04-09, 10:02 PM
#61
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Washington State
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The part I received from Sewell was very different in color from my '04 UL with the antique walnut. I was stumped, but my son took it and had the doors swapped in about 15 minutes. He is not an engineer. While I had the console apart I took the opportunity to clean the cupholder mechanism. The previous owner had apparently dumped something sticky at some point (easy to do), as it would hang up about half way out. Works fine now cleaned up and with a shot of silicone spray in the works. The ashtray changeout is great.
08-05-09, 07:24 PM
#63
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Provide Sewell with your car's VIN. They can tell from that. Mine did not match well because I had inadvertantly given them the VIN from my '99LS instead of the '04
Gene
Gene
08-06-09, 05:11 AM
#65
Holy moly !!!
[quote=jayclapp;4737618]
Not offended at all... 
I actually hope no one was offended my my comments thinking that it would take an engineer to figure it out. For me, the match was close enough in color and pattern that I just kept it as is. Plus, the old cover had some minor scuffs that I didn't care to transposition over to the new unit.
And yes, what you outlined is exactly what I figured it would take to remove the unit. When I was removing the old unit, the side cover actually fell off to reveal the inner workings. It's not a TOUGH job, but not an easy job either and I hope I didn't lead people on to think the removal of the cover was a jiffy. I just meant that removal and installation was "self explanatory"...
f.
Alex, please don't take offense to my comments. I am also an engineer and almost always agree with your comments.
Today I received the console bow from Sewell. In my case the wood door did not quite match in color. So I decided to Change the door. Wow! What a job. There were no instructions and I had to kind of reserve engineer the job by disassembling the current bow. If all you want to do is replace the current box with the new one it is quite simple. After disassembling, you only have to replace 4 screws to replace the box. Changing the door was another thing. First you have to remove a cover at the end of the box in order to remove the lower half of the box. This is necessary to get access to the 4th screw that hold the door to the unit. Then you have to remove the lower portion of the box to be able to get to the 3 screws that hold the door on. After removing the door, you have to exchange the inner door surface that comes with the new unit to the old door you wish to keep. No obvious and I missed this the first time. When assembling without this new piece, the door would not open and close properly. All in all, it took me over an hour to fit my old door into the new console unit. But I'm very picky and wouldn't be satisfied with an obvious mismatch in color. The new door was slightly lighter in color and I would always be aware of it.
I'm very happy with the results, but people should be aware that keeping your old door is not a simple quick thing to do.
Alex, please don't take offense to my comments. I am also an engineer and almost always agree with your comments.
Today I received the console bow from Sewell. In my case the wood door did not quite match in color. So I decided to Change the door. Wow! What a job. There were no instructions and I had to kind of reserve engineer the job by disassembling the current bow. If all you want to do is replace the current box with the new one it is quite simple. After disassembling, you only have to replace 4 screws to replace the box. Changing the door was another thing. First you have to remove a cover at the end of the box in order to remove the lower half of the box. This is necessary to get access to the 4th screw that hold the door to the unit. Then you have to remove the lower portion of the box to be able to get to the 3 screws that hold the door on. After removing the door, you have to exchange the inner door surface that comes with the new unit to the old door you wish to keep. No obvious and I missed this the first time. When assembling without this new piece, the door would not open and close properly. All in all, it took me over an hour to fit my old door into the new console unit. But I'm very picky and wouldn't be satisfied with an obvious mismatch in color. The new door was slightly lighter in color and I would always be aware of it.
I'm very happy with the results, but people should be aware that keeping your old door is not a simple quick thing to do.
I actually hope no one was offended my my comments thinking that it would take an engineer to figure it out. For me, the match was close enough in color and pattern that I just kept it as is. Plus, the old cover had some minor scuffs that I didn't care to transposition over to the new unit.And yes, what you outlined is exactly what I figured it would take to remove the unit. When I was removing the old unit, the side cover actually fell off to reveal the inner workings. It's not a TOUGH job, but not an easy job either and I hope I didn't lead people on to think the removal of the cover was a jiffy. I just meant that removal and installation was "self explanatory"...
08-06-09, 07:43 AM
#66
Lexus Champion
[QUOTE=AlexusAnja;4742110]
Not offended at all... I actually hope no one was offended my my comments thinking that it would take an engineer to figure it out. For me, the match was close enough in color and pattern that I just kept it as is. Plus, the old cover had some minor scuffs that I didn't care to transposition over to the new unit.
And yes, what you outlined is exactly what I figured it would take to remove the unit. When I was removing the old unit, the side cover actually fell off to reveal the inner workings. It's not a TOUGH job, but not an easy job either and I hope I didn't lead people on to think the removal of the cover was a jiffy. I just meant that removal and installation was "self explanatory"...
Actually I quite enjoyed the exercise. It was almost worth it just to see how Lexus had designed the mechanism that allows the door to open slowly simulating the action of a pneumatic shock. A very clever spring design.
When you look at the console assembly you begin to realize the attention to detail that Lexus has gone to and why the assembly costs what it does. Example of the little unknowns that cause us to love our Lexus.
Not offended at all...
I actually hope no one was offended my my comments thinking that it would take an engineer to figure it out. For me, the match was close enough in color and pattern that I just kept it as is. Plus, the old cover had some minor scuffs that I didn't care to transposition over to the new unit.And yes, what you outlined is exactly what I figured it would take to remove the unit. When I was removing the old unit, the side cover actually fell off to reveal the inner workings. It's not a TOUGH job, but not an easy job either and I hope I didn't lead people on to think the removal of the cover was a jiffy. I just meant that removal and installation was "self explanatory"...
When you look at the console assembly you begin to realize the attention to detail that Lexus has gone to and why the assembly costs what it does. Example of the little unknowns that cause us to love our Lexus.
08-06-09, 08:06 PM
#67
Not so special...
08-14-09, 08:44 AM
#68
Forum Administrator
iTrader: (2)
You guys remind me I still need to get my box installed - sitting in my garage for some time now.
So folks with the darker Ultra cover noticed a difference in the wood color? Did you give your VIN to Sewell when you ordered? When I held my new piece up to the old cover it looked like a pretty good match to me.
Note that Sewell posted a PDF that may help with the install for others who may not have done it yet (attaching again below). These are overkill and includes stuff you obviously don't need to do but good for showing assembly / disassembly of all the parts.
So folks with the darker Ultra cover noticed a difference in the wood color? Did you give your VIN to Sewell when you ordered? When I held my new piece up to the old cover it looked like a pretty good match to me.
Note that Sewell posted a PDF that may help with the install for others who may not have done it yet (attaching again below). These are overkill and includes stuff you obviously don't need to do but good for showing assembly / disassembly of all the parts.
03-25-14, 08:51 AM
#70
Pole Position
Resurrecting old thread ... when replacing console ash tray with this compartment storage box #58810-50020, if the new wood grain cover doesn't match well, you can use the original ash tray frame and original matching wood grain cover simply by swapping out the lower ash tray portion with the storage box compartment (4 small phillips screws). The real shame is that Lexus should sell just the plastic storage compartment box with 12-volt outlet to replace the ash tray - the high cost of this nice feature / option is having to purchase the whole unit with another wood grain lid and underlying frame that could be re-used from the original ash tray box assembly.
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razvy (05-21-19)
03-25-14, 06:44 PM
#75
