Center Console Repair

With carpet removal done and the carpet all nice and clean it was time to put the center console back in. I had finally gotten used to using the window switches as they floated free with out the console to hold them in place.

I started with the pieces of the console. There are two distinct pieces to the console. The shifter part and the cubby box part. That is not the official nomenclature but it will be what I use. Each is held to the other with a black plastic brace that is sure to be broken. I had to glue each of the braces back together. For this gluing I used 2 part epoxy. This is a good choice for plastic. And once hardened you can shape it with a dremel cutting wheel if you need too. And you will need too.

I used a variety of clamps to hold the epoxy as it hardened. Each time I fitted the parts to make sure there wasn't any adjustment needed. Several times I needed to grind down the glue to get the pieces to fit. Finally I had all the braces repaired and fitted the two pieces together and glued them. A note here as I did this I knew something would go wrong when I did this and I was right. The two pieces together were very difficult to put back in place due to the shifters and the emergency brake levers locations. I found that if I loosened the bolts that hold the emergency brake bracket I could move the lever enough to slide the console into place. Sorry no pics of this as I was alone and getting very frustrated by this time.

As you place the console in make sure you have all the wires on the proper side as far as inside of the cubby box. I left two relays out on the passenger side and had to remove the bolts holding it down a second or third time.

As I mentioned elsewhere a problem with the Hi/Low drive lever shorting and inadvertently beeping at me needed to be investigated. I cannot get her into low range either so I thought I'd remove the rubber hole cover and check it out. As I learned it had rivets I needed to get some rivets. Good thing The Evil German Dude (EGD) had the premium rivet tool and collection of rivets as I would need to put all this back together after I was done.

What I learned as after I drilled out the rivets was that I could not fix anything in there. The shifter was still stuck and the switch was in a integrated lever and not a serviceable part. Disappointed I put it all back together. I did manage to loose a nice punch tool down the hole that never fell to the driveway.

I got the rivet tool ready and found the proper size rivets from the awesome rivet collection. I replaced the 8 or 9 rivets with the tool. I put a zip tie on the rubber boot to hold it in place on the shifter lever as a final attempt to make things look neat and proper.

There were so many parts to this project. But overall I would rate the complete job a 1 on the Difficulty Scale. Several parts of this were easy. A couple were more challenging but nothing very challenging. I expect I should get The Big White Buss down to Cottman's and get the transmission serviced and the high/low lever problem looked at.

Thanks for reading and happy Rovering.