Cupholders (1 Viewer)

[97 FZJ80]

The 80 series was truly the pinnacle of Toyota's engineering and marketing. Not only did they built a vehicle that was tough enough to go anywhere in the world, they also incorporated much creature comforts to carry the family in true minivan comfort. This was a vehicle that can perform soccer mom duty on weekdays, and excel at offroading on weekends. Hose off the dirt before Monday morning, and you're ready for soccor mom/mall duty again. This is a true off-road capable vehicle with luxuaries such as power seats, sunroof, leather interior and CD player with too-many-speakers-to-count stereo system - all except for the lack of cupholders. I will post my quest to cure this shortcoming and some pictures of the cupholders that I have used.

Feel free to add to this thread with your own cup (or beer) holder.

 

[97 FZJ80]

This is the front factory cupholder that is standard on all 80 series sold in the US of A. Notice the cupholder is really more of a cubby hole than a cupholder. It can only hold a standard 12 oz can soft drink. Anything taller will sit tilted due to the poximity of the cupholder to the dash. I use this "cupholder" for change and small things.

 

[97 FZJ80]

This is the single rear cupholder that is next to the center console. This cupholder is actually well designed and useful. It can be accessed from any of the the five front passengers and is the only usable cupholder in the 80-series. Although it is deep and holds the cup well, it is only sized to fit a standard cup and will not accept larger cups like the Big Gulp. This is really an embarrassment as the 60 series has a double cupholder in this location.

 

[97 FZJ80]

I quickly remedy the cupholder situation after taking ownership of my 80. I ordered the non-US market OEM cupholder that fits on the dash. This cupholder can hold cups that are larger than the standard 12 oz can, and retracts into the dash when not in use. It does block some of the access to the radio in the open position. I purchased it from Sleeoffroad, a Ih8mud sponsor, for about $50 almost 10 years ago.

 

[97 FZJ80]

Next came the aftermarket cupholders. I purchased mine from the parts department of my local Toyota dealership. The cupholders were made by The Cupholder company (1-800-SPILL-FREE) who later sold the molds, parts, and rights to Drinkholders.com. The 80-series cupholders were not listed on Drinkholders.com, but they will sell you the 80-series cupholders if you call them direct.

Here is the front center console cupholder with matching woodgrain on the LX450. It mounts to the front console with double-sided tape. I recall paying $65 for this cupholder over 10 years ago.

 

[97 FZJ80]

This was the double cupholder sold by The Cupholder company. It mounts to the rear of the center console with 4 screws. It was well designed and was covered in the oak/tan vinyl that was color-matched to the center console. I now have 6 cupholders in my 80, tripling my cupholding capacity

It cost me about $99 for this double cupholder 10 years ago.

 

[97 FZJ80]

Trouble in Paradise

The aftermarket cupholders looked fine but only worked okay. They lacked the springs to keep tension on the cups to prevent the cups from tipping. They also lack automatic adjustment for different cup sizes. The worst part was the flimsy design of the cupholders. If you ever use the third row seats, you can forget about these cupholders as flipping the second row seat forward to enter/exit the third row will cause the second row seats to break the cupholders. My daughter also learned to use the cupholder as a step to get up onto her car seat. The repairs were expensive and require removing and sending back the entire unit to the manufacturer.

 

[97 FZJ80]

A modified design

I finally got fed up with the aftermarket cupholders and set out to design a better one. After much research, I found the Fischer Cupholder to be a well designed and durable cupholder. Ultimate Cupholders has the best prices on the web and I purchase a boatload of these to be used for my cupholder projects and some extra as spares.

To install the cupholders, I used the original spacer for the second row cupholders from the Drinkholders.com. The spacer was color-matched to the tan/oak interior and formed a flat vertical surface that was perfect for mounting a cupholder. I call up Drinkholders.com, and they sold me the spacer as a replacement part.

I mounted two Fischer cupholders to the spacers and added a few more screws to secure the cupholders. This was the final product.

 

[97 FZJ80]

More pictures of the middle row cupholders

 

[97 FZJ80]

The front aftermarket cupholder suffered similar performance problems as the middle-row cupholders. The cupholder was difficult to adjust and small drinks moved around in the two "arms". In addition, the upright position was not really steady, and the drink tips during heavy acceleration.

The bonus was the cupholders came with cork liners to absorb any minor spillage and cover up the water rings from the bottom of the cups. The Cupholder Company sent me a bunch of extra cork liner that I am using in my current cupholders.

After seeing the success of some Mud members adapting the Land Rover Discovery cupholders to the 80-series front console, I ordered a single tan cupholder from an online LR dealer. This was a well designed cupholder (kudos to LR). It is deep and has a cutout for the mug handle. The hard liner can be removed to fit a Big Gulp cup and the entire upper part (the black part) can be removed for cleaning. BONUS: the lower part of the cupholder is a great place to hide small items such as jewelry or keys.

 

[97 FZJ80]

Now that I have front and middle row passengers taken care of, the third row passengers are now complaining about holding their drinks between their legs. Truth be told, it really bothers me more than anyone else seeing the un-cupholder'ed water bottles rolling around in back. I proceeded to add cupholders for the third row passengers using the Fischer cupholders. The Fischer cupholders came with spacers, allowing the cupholders to mount vertically on the side panels. I mounted the cupholders low on the sides, so they sit directly over the rear wheel wells. This way, I've increase the survival rate of these cupholders if the passenger accidentally steps on the cupholder while entering/exiting the third row.

 

[97 FZJ80]

That all I have for right now. I'm always looking for a better solution to solve my "drinking" problem. If you have any cupholder solutions, post them up!

 

[TX80Fan]

Damn man...u be trippin'. I hope all is well...cupholders rule!

 

[AppleTech]

Haha... I don't think I've every met anyone as obsessed with cupholders as you

Kudos on outfitting your rig for max comfort though!

 

[Tapage]

Where do you get the LR cupholder . ? my 95 Cruiser with the old dash not even have the dash cupholder

 

[97 FZJ80]

Where do you get the LR cupholder . ? my 95 Cruiser with the old dash not even have the dash cupholder

Check out this thread on the LR Discovery cupholder mod.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/177644-land-rover-disco-cupholder.html

 

[d-country]

For the Discovery cup holder (they do rock, I have had 2 discos with them and plan on putting one in my new 80) goto -- EE -- Expedition Exchange Incorporated select products from the upper menu and then search for "cup holder".

 

[Darwood]

That front cup holder isn't a cup holder... it's a golf ball holder.

Are we really talking about cup holders in 80's tech?

 

[Beowulf]

Are we really talking about cup holders in 80's tech?

The "leatherique" thread got 651,346 views. If we can talk about leatherique, we can talk about cup holders.

-B-

 

[Walking Eagle]

that ain't a cup holder.... THIS is a cup holder!