Removing Cupholder fingers

[pcww]

I have had it with the "fingers" which are the spring loaded knees in the cupholders in front seats. SR5. Can I pull out the entire deal or break them with a hammer? Causes me to spill coffee each day to try to jam cup into these.

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[HVLA]

Interesting. I havent had any issues like that.

I would think you could pop the assembly out and remove the "fingers", but havent seen anyone do it.

 

[AmericanAdventureLab]

Ours were like that at first, but they've loosened up a good bit after 15k miles!

 

[bakutheleo]

I know this does not answer your question either, but once I got used to using them (a day or so) I find them to work very well keeping cups in place and have no problem using them. Second nature now, but I think I tend to put the cup in somewhat from the non-finger side so it pushes them aside more easily.

 

[purplenomad]

I agree. I don't like them either. I plan either design and print an insert, or buy a TPE insert from Amazon and block the holes on it.

 

[bkw777]

The problem with the cup holder is not a matter of getting used to it. The design is fundamentally backwards. You just don't notice the problem if you happen to have cups that are hard and smooth, which is most people most of the time.

Find a thermos with a rubber bottom that goes all the way to the sides or even up the side.

Or, just imagine it, and look at the fingers again and move them and see how they move.

They swing on a pivot point like a hinge on a pin, and the pin is on the bottom.

That kind of mechanism is actually normally used as a very effective one-way pawl that would let something move only in one direction, away from the pin and impossible to go back towards the pin once the pawl sprung closed.

The only reason it "works" in most cases here is the curve on top is a little bit more angled than an exact arc centered on the hinge point. But it's pretty close! But since it's got a little extra slope, it does allow a smooth hard surface to push the pawl to the side instead of just hitting it and stopping dead. Well most cups are metal or plastic and pretty rigid, and the surface is usually more or less frictionless if it's plastic or metal against the platic finger. As long as it's almost frictionless like that, the finger can slide to the side.

But I can tell you without having to imagine it or theorize, a couple weeks ago while away on a trip I picked up a typical stainless steel double walled water bottle at an HEB in TX, that happened to have a silicone rubber bottom that wasn't just a little surface on the flat bottom but extended all the way to the edge and 1/2 inch up the side.

In fact, here, it was this one:
https://www.heb.com/product-detail/reduce-hydrate-pro-water-bottle-varsity-blue-24-oz/12290531

That bottle was absolutely impossible to insert into the cup holder. And the fault is not the bottle. The fault is 100% the straight up one-way pawl that in any other context would be designed explicitly to do exactly what it does, prevent something from moving past it no matter how many elephants try to bash it through.

I think I get why they did it that way. By putting the hinge on the bottom, it allows the contact point to be higher up the side of the cup, which is more stable for holding the cup.

It's still a &^%$^$%^% terrible bass ackwards design.

But like I recently said in another thread, It's a huge improvement over the bass ackwards lower ball joints in the 3rd gen, so I'll take that trade every day.

(Also that bottle sucks because it has a straw inside that is always submerged, and the air vent that let's air in when you pull liquid out is not a free open hole but a silicone flap that seals the hole and requires some force to pull air past it. Start your day with cold orange juice in there and close the sipping nipple. Let the bottle warm up in the TX heat. Open the nipple. Instant pressurized gusher, a half cup of orange juice blasted all over yourself as the air in the top of the bottle pushes the oj down and the only escape is via the straw. And... you can't really just remove the straw. You CAN, and that removes the gyser blast problem, but the way the nozzle is positioned in the lid it's not near the rim, so if you try to drink the normal way without the straw inside, you can't get the last bit out, a fair amount will stay trapped inside. F that bottle.)

 

[DHermit]

You could probably super glue them and hold them back in place. Just an idea.

 

[bakutheleo]

If I had a problem with it (I do not) I would do something less permanent. Maybe just a thin cup that fit in place to hold them back (could easily be 3D printed if you have access to that).

I tested with a can holder I have that has a silicone, or at least rubbery, coating and did not find it to be a problem at all. It, however, is a thin coating so not squishy, which would likely make a difference.

 

[Mad Ghost]

I have had it with the "fingers" which are the spring loaded knees in the cupholders in front seats. SR5. Can I pull out the entire deal or break them with a hammer? Causes me to spill coffee each day to try to jam cup into these.

Yes they can be removed, you can actually probably just remove the spring so that you don't have holes there. It requries removing the armrest. There is 2 10mm bolts on the right side near the seat, 4 more inside the arm rest. I don't remember any others but that should allow you to lift it up and back. There is an AC duct inside so that will cause a little resistance.

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