fixing a glove box hinge by John Cook

[Also see a closely related tip courtesy Richard, on fixing a broken glove box latch mechanism.]

After several months carrying my kids to school, they finally managed to bust a glove box hinge, the glovebox door didn't fall off it just hung slightly sadly to the left and rattled, I thought it would be pretty simple, and not worth calling the Volvo dealer, who's prices are likely to make your eyes water.

Being the tight fisted git I am decided to tackle the problem myself.

The procedure is easy enough to follow, but heres the blow by blow account of me saving loads of money.

Tools required are very minimal, a Torx screwdriver, and a tiny flat screwdriver are really all the tools you need, and materials are cheap, Epoxy glue and a 12mm thick bit of MDF (medium density fibre) board, and a cup of tea.

First open and empty the glove box, then put the small screwdriver into the hole next to the check straps and release it, it can be a bit fiddly, but it should just pull out if you push the tab towards the strap, now do the other side.

Then use the Torx screwdriver to undo all the screws around the glove box, you can place the screws in the glove box as it quite handy.

Pull the interior of the glove box forward and push the check straps through the holes, the interior should now be free, put this some where safe as its got all the screws in!.

Here you can see my problem, the plastic lip that the hinge attaches to is completely broken, the whole thing is a complete unit that takes up half the dashboard, I had visions of the Volvo dealer rubbing his hands with glee, the greedy gits.

After a cup of tea, I had an idea, it involved wood and glue and a huge amount of money saving (my personal favourite).

Using a piece of pine I would glue it to the bottom of the moulding to replace the lip.

Heres my first mistake, I used Pine which has a grain, this made it split the first time I tried to fit a screw into it, BUGGER!

I had to saw a slot in the MDF to accommodate the plastic vertical strengthener, and you can see the predrilled holes for the hinge, play around and get the piece to fit (like a glove) and screw in the screws to test the fit before you glue anything down.

Heres the final MDF model, use washers to keep the hinge at the right height if your MDF offcut is a little low, and glue the MDF to the base of the moulding using Epoxy resin glue (Araldite).

It doesn't have to look good, it just has to be functional as its hidden by the glove box!, best of all it will save you a bundle!.

Putting it all back is just the reverse of taking it apart with the exception of the check straps just push them back into their holes to click them in.

Well heres the final result, nice, straight, level, rattle free, and cost under $2.... and done in under 1 hour including the tea break.