hi all, one of my favorite things about my LS400 is the slow open / damped motion of the cupholder assembly. Unfortunately for me mine no longer slow opens, rather it kinda just slams open - BOOM! I have removed the assembly and cleaned everything out. I cannot however for the life of me figure out what I can do to restore it to its former slow opening / dampened glory. Any ideas or suggestions? I was thinking maybe I should grease up the gears but that wouldn't restore the dampened action, would it?

My LS400 is a '98. I have looked into buying a new assembly for almost $100 but it is not available for purchase anymore from what I gather.

 

Can you snap a pic of the damper with a ruler showing relative dimensions? There may be other Toyota dampers that may be adaptable to this.

 

Well that’s just it, I don’t see any damping mechanism at all. Just two springs for tension, and the gear assembly to pop it open.

Its possible the people who installed my stereo years ago busted the cup holder damper, tossed it, and didn’t tell me about it? Either way don’t see anything in the assembly that I can tell is the damping mechanism.

any pointers of what to look for?

 

I went looking for pics of this and only get partial views. I've not had the one in the Lex out so I'm not familiar with the cup holder assembly.

 

anyone with a functioning, properly dampened cupholder willing to take a look at the assembly for me? If you don't know how to remove the assembly for a good look its very easy - takes just a few minutes to get in there with four screws to remove.

 

You can see photos taken from different angles here.
I believe there is a damper in the plastic housing behind the larger gear or at the end of the shaft. The damper is in the housing and you can't see it. One idea to prevent the quick motion is to use a weaker spring but still it will be faster than with a damper.

 

OK, I am going to remove the cupholder again to see if there is a way to get into the plastic housing and lay eyes on the damper. I doubt there is much I can do to service it at this point so my only option may be to find a used cupholder with damping mechanism still functioning.

Thanks for the reminder Yamae that yahoo auctions exist!!!! There are lots of nice used UCF20 bits and bobs on there.

 

You are welcome, vidlev. Yes, there exists Yahoo Auction in Japan and it is sometimes convenient but the shipping cost is often more than the part cost. Especially for non Japanese residents, they have to pay some extra fee to agents who bid and ship abroad.

Regarding the damper, if it were possible to access the inside of the plastic housing without braking it, there would be something we can try.

 

They arent hard to find at the junk yards.