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So, the hinge on my upper glove box decided to give out. I was wondering if this has happened to any of you and if so, how were you able to fix it. I was thinking about taking the GB liner out and spot welding the hinge back on, but I have absolutely NO idea of how to take the liner out.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated Guys!!
The upper and lower glove boxes are connected. You have to remove both. In order to get to the bolts that hold it in you need to remove the wood trim piece above the upper glove box. There is a clip you can see through the vent that you need to push down. Then you can pop out the wood trim piece. There are a few more bolts in the bottom you can see them in the pic.
Once you get the glove boxes out there is one bolt holding the catch on.
I got my upper glove box latch repaired. I bent up a piece of 1/8 inch steel Hobart welding rod to replicate the broken (and missing) latch wire. I stuck the piece of welding rod back on the sheetmetal bracket using my tig machine. I didn’t try finding a replacement latch assembly from Lexus.
Here’s a little procedure to remove the glove boxes. They both come out as one big assembly:
1. Remove the toe panel under the glove boxes. Pull it straight aft and very slightly down. There is one two-wire connector to unplug.
2. Pull the wood trim piece above the glove boxes straight aft. I started by opening the passenger door and prying under the edge of the wood trim. I didn’t find the latch hidden inside the AC vent until later. if you pull hard enough it will pop out of the way.
3. Remove all the exposed screws that were under the wood trim. (8mm)
4. Remove four more 10mm screws holding the glove boxes in place. There are two just beneath the upper glove box (open the lower glove box to see them), and two more beneath the lower glove box.
5. Unplug two connectors on the left side of the glove box assembly and lift the whole thing out of the car.
The only trick when reinstalling the glove boxes, is a plastic hook just above the bottom-most right hand 10mm screw. It must go on top of the sheetmetal structure.
This is the plastic hook by the bottommost right hand screw. I mangled it up before noticing it must go ABOVE the sheetmetal support.
I hope these extra pictures are helpful.
Homemade latch welded to the sheetmetal bracket. It works!
The bracket that has the upper glovebox striker spot welded is a little nasty to remove. It is only held in place with one 10mm nut, and one 8mm sheetmetal screw. But there’s more - it is also riveted through the plastic AC duct! You must chisel off the head of the soft aluminum rivet. Then fish inside the AC duct to retrieve the mushroom end of the aluminum rivet. You won’t want that thing rattling around inside your dash. It is hard to reach around one 90 degree bend in the duct. I fished it out using a bright light, mirror and some bent coat hangar.
09-11-12, 06:52 PM
Upper glovebox broke. Any ideas?
