DIY: Worn-out seat arm rests? Just flip them over! (1 Viewer)

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Pyrenees

Pyrenees

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Jul 25, 2018
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The interior in my 2001 LX 470 has been damn near perfect but ever since I bought it a year ago, but the driver's side fold-down bolster armrest had a scuffed corner. Not too serious, but it always bugged me and felt a little scratchy if I touched the tip. I asked here about leather dye/filler, as well as how to get it reupholstered. I put it on the back burner.

Then I had a thought. "Why don't I just flip the armrest over?"

It wouldn't repair the scuff, but it would basically hide it and the usable surface would be clean.

Tools:

9/16" socket and ratchet
flathead screwdriver
beer

Total time: 30 minutes.

Here is what the driver's side bolster looked like before I did this mod:

IMG_2671.JPG


IMG_2672.JPG
 
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Pop the plastic cap off the armrest with a flathead screwdriver. Stick a short ratchet and a 9/16" socket on the armrest bolt. It is threaded normally. It takes a whole lot of turning before the bolt comes out completely.

You DO NOT need to remove the center console if you have a small/normal-sized 3/8" ratchet. Just flip up the TWO parts of the center console top unit to get them out of the way. Slide the power seats forward a bit to clear the 90-degree opened center console bits for your ratchet.

When you get the bolt out, pull the armrest right off the seat.

Keep two things in mind:

1- there is a black plastic ring between the armrest and the seat. It's not rocket science, just make sure you put it back between the armrest and the seat when you reassemble it. There is no special fitment, it's literally a plastic ring. You can't mess it up.

2 - fold down the armrest before removal AND DO NOT MESS WITH THE ADJUSTMENT after that. The ratcheting adjustment is inside the armrest, not the seat. You can see on the armrest there is a little "catch" point, and there is a metal stub on the seat itself.

With the armrest removed, you will find that on the backside there is a little plastic fitting that comes apart, and a velcro piece to hold it together. Basically, just carefully pry apart the fitting with your hand and unzip the velcro. This must be done for each seat.

Then, take the leather armrest and shimmy it off the foam armrest piece.

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With the leather removed from each seat arm rest, you can see it is just a metal thing covered in foam. If yours is very worn out, consider adding something to the disintegrated foam tip. In my case, it wasn't that bad.

Notice how the leather armrest cover must be flipped over from one side to another - the hole where the plastic cap snaps in is much smaller than the hole that normally faces the seat.

Before I did all of this,I first wondered if I could simply take the driver's side seat armrest off the bolster and swap it with the passenger side, without disassembling everything. The answer to that is NO, YOU CANNOT.

The reason is that the ratcheting mechanism is inside the armrest, not the seat. So if I bolted the passenger armrest upside-down to the driver's seat and vise-versa, it would just get stuck ratcheting downward into the seat bottom and would not function the way it did from the factory. Thus, this whole operation.

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You will now literally just shove the passenger-side leather armrest cover UPSIDE-DOWN on to the driver's side armrest bolster and shove the driver's side leather armrest cover UPSIDE-DOWN on to the passenger-side armrest.

Did you make sure the small hole is facing the passenger cabin and the big hole is stuck to the seat?

Did you remember to stick the black plastic ring between the seat and the arm rest?

Tighten your 9/16" bolt down on each side enough to get it snug. Actuate the armrests up and down just to make sure that they ratchet correctly and reset at the top. You will know if you've messed that up. I did a couple of times. Just take it back off, look at the metal post on the seat and look at the "catch point" on the arm rest. If you mess it up, play around with it until you figure it out. You can't break anything, so just try it.

Once the arm rest is in place, the bolt is there and it moves up/down like it's supposed to...

Torque to 27 ft/lbs... or if you don't have a torque wrench handy, give it the same exact shove that you give to your oil drain pan when you change the oil.

Pop the plastic covers back on the arm rest. Fiddle around with the leather until it looks right. You just woke it up from a two-decade slumber, so I'm sure it's pissed. Wiggle it around until it looks right.

Congrats, you just fixed your leather arm rest for free.

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You are definitely smarter than the average Bear.
 
Beauski100 said:
i envy your immaculate seats.
Click to expand...

If it makes you feel any better, I had to get up at 3 AM with my pregnant wife and existing kid and drive to another state to buy the thing.

We ate a lot of fast food that day.
 
I just did this! Great write up and pics. My armrests were looking pretty ratty. Only took me about 20 minutes. Thanks for this great tip!
 
Thanks @Pyrenees for the awesome tip, finally got around to do it. This was a nice front seat refresh, had the driver bottom seat replaced with leather for 165+90 install from an ebay seller and local upholstery shop. Then finished it off with turning over seat armrest as they were in really bad shape! I wasn't expecting the stitching would now face up and that's a welcoming surprise, the stitching makes it look great and even more upscale haha!

This should hold me over next few years.

20200617_134033.jpg


20200617_134247.jpg
 
Pyrenees said:
You will now literally just shove the passenger-side leather armrest cover UPSIDE-DOWN on to the driver's side armrest bolster and shove the driver's side leather armrest cover UPSIDE-DOWN on to the passenger-side armrest.

Did you make sure the small hole is facing the passenger cabin and the big hole is stuck to the seat?

Did you remember to stick the black plastic ring between the seat and the arm rest?

Tighten your 9/16" bolt down on each side enough to get it snug. Actuate the armrests up and down just to make sure that they ratchet correctly and reset at the top. You will know if you've messed that up. I did a couple of times. Just take it back off, look at the metal post on the seat and look at the "catch point" on the arm rest. If you mess it up, play around with it until you figure it out. You can't break anything, so just try it.

Once the arm rest is in place, the bolt is there and it moves up/down like it's supposed to...

Torque to 27 ft/lbs... or if you don't have a torque wrench handy, give it the same exact shove that you give to your oil drain pan when you change the oil.

Pop the plastic covers back on the arm rest. Fiddle around with the leather until it looks right. You just woke it up from a two-decade slumber, so I'm sure it's pissed. Wiggle it around until it looks right.

Congrats, you just fixed your leather arm rest for free.

View attachment 2040795

View attachment 2040796
Click to expand...
Great write up just did this on my 2005, took 25 minutes. Hardest part was getting the plastic clip apart with cold fingers.
If only the center console was so easy.
 
Why remove the leather? Can’t you just swap the left and right so they are now upside down?
 
Bumping this to see if anyone has a DIY or source for replacement leather cover and padding. My armrest is worn through to the plastic innards.
 
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