For those like me with the skinny rear cupholder arms, you may know they are prone to breaking (a lot)

Both of mine were barely functioning as is and kept falling out. I do know there are 3d printed replacements but I liked being able to retract them when they weren't being used.

I did some research and found that the 2003-2008 corollas have a "drop in" replacement for the cupholder. They come in Tan, Gray and Black.

The corollas have much stronger arms that are spring loaded and has a door that is easier to open than the one on our 4Runners.

Today on my escapade to the local junkyard, I grabbed one and got to work when I got home.

Initially I tried just dropping it in to see if it fit, which it didn't. The housing is too deep and the door is too wide.

Once you get the corolla cupholders, You'll need to disassemble it to get the housing off. The way I did this was by snapping the plastic grabbers that hold the plate on at the bottom, as I wasn't going to need it anyway. Now slide the cupholders all the way out

Next up, you need to disassemble the 4runner ones the same way. This is easier as the plate is just held on with phillips screws. Slide down on the holder and the cupholder will slide right out.

Then you slide the corolla ones in and put the little plate back on.



You could call this done, but I was getting bugged by the gap between the center console and the cupholder door, so I measured it against the 4runner housing and trimmed it with the dremel.

Before


After (It actually fits more snug than this, I just didn't have it pushed in all the way)



Enjoy your new cupholders!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Love this! Excellent mod and write up. Thank you. Next time I'm at the wrenchapart I'll take a look.

Jason

The later model year third gens have shorter, stringer, stubbier cup holder arms as well.