How does one remove the cushioned arm rest from the plastic piece it sits on. One of my dogs tore it, and I need to get it upholstered. 3 auto upholstery shops won't touch it. It's ruining an otherwise immaculate interior.

 

Can't find those $%&*!@ pics! I did that exact job on my dear departed 96. It can be done. Mine turned out great.


As I recall, after you take the cover assembly off the arm rest, you remove the black plastic piece on the back. It has a lip that presses the fabric/leather down into a groove/channel that runs all around the cover. Then you just pull the ripped up cover off.


I got some high quality vinyl from an auto interior shop (leather was ungodly expensive). Cut it to fit, including back down into that channel. A fabric store sold me some very good glue (don't remember the name) and glued one side at a time. I rigged up a piece of plastic that would fit right into that channel, put a weight on it and let it set up about 24 hours. Then I did the same with the other 3 sides. Takes time, but driving that new material into its channel stretches the vinyl across the top and when it was done it looked just like a factory job.

 

Do you mean at the hinges or just the covering of the arm rest?

The covering is jammed into a slot that goes around the perimeter of the lid.

The upholstery guys don't have a way to reproduce that process.

Get the leather/vinyl and do it yourself.

mtroxel has it spot on in his description.

Otherwise:

The hinges need to be pushed/pried toward each other to release IIRC.

The lid pivot pins are outboard of the hinge arms. Be careful they will break.

Mine had a phone hookup in one of the hinges so I had to cut some wires and remove the RJ12 jack.

 

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My problem is I can't figure out how to get the leather covered cushion off the plastic support.

 

Huskerbob had it right:



You just sqeeze those two hook shaped plastic hinge things inward a bit...carefully...and it will pop right out.