Technical Articles

A cure for those troublesome plastic armrest cups.

-- by Paul

If I were a betting man, I would bet that you have broken armrest cups in your 78-79 Ford truck. I replaced the factory plastic cups in my Bronco twice before I finally found a permanent solution to the problem.

 

So, before you go buy another pair of these things from Ford or embark on another fruitless search for replacement plastic cups that aren't broken in the junk yard, did you know that the old Ford F-Series trucks from 1973 to 1976 used all METAL armrest cups?  And guess what? They will screw right in place of the factory 78-79 plastic armrest cups. These early model cups will not only solve the problem of the plastic cups breaking all the time, but they will also help protect the rest of the door trim panel because it actually strengthens the door as whole. Also, because they are all metal, they are easy to repaint to match the interior of your truck. Believe it or not, the armrest cup in the picture above was dark green when I found it in a 73 F-100. But green paint wasn't anything a little sandpaper and some spray paint couldn't fix!

 

So how much did these little jewels set me back? Nothing! The owner of the junk yard I found them in was so disgusted that I was wasting his time with these small parts that he let me have them for free just so I would get out of his yard. ;-)