1st gen - Cheap elbow rest on door panel fix.

In reviewing what Toyota wanted for a new door panel trim I decided to fix what was very annoying whilst driving.
The plastic from the elbow rest had broken away leaving a hole my elbow would sag into and rest against the sharp exposed broken plastic. So I took the door trim off and headed down to Lowes. This should cost you all up around 25 bucks, I can't see it costing any more.

I now have a somewhat bulbous, but very comfortable soft elbow pad.( should settle down a bit after a few weeks)

What you'll need:

• 1 strip of a metal gutter leaf protector ( $3.50) this stuff is strong but pliable to mold to your door trim and let the jb weld hold it in place
• job weld plastic bond epoxy, large tube pack ( $14.00)
• high density roll of door sealing foam ($5.00)

How to do it:

• Remove door trim and pull handle with backing support
• Trim leaf gutter protector to size and bend and mold to cover hole sufficiently
• Trim foam to length and slide into the crack in-between the cloth and the backing. Make sure you are generous here, I did double layers over the broken piece, you'll see what I mean once you do it.
• Now clamp steel molding over the door trim and liberally apply the jb weld, making sure that it is pressed through the screen onto the door trim.
• leave overnight and assemble back together.

I am thinking of spraying a bit of spray foam under the rest and trimming once dry so it provides additional support against the door for the rest, but it seems strong enough atm.

That's it. doesn't look like a new one but my elbow fell asleep using it, it's that comfortable

 

Good write-up! I feel like it's worth pointing something out the upholstered insert is pretty easily removable.

You can swap out a nicer insert from a donor panel, or even take a trashed one, uninstall, slap new fabric on it, very easily, could potentially be less effort, but would still have the same OEM shortcomings.

This is the process interior shops use on our trucks. This picture should lay out the details you'd need to swap it out.

 

Interesting. I just roll the window down and rest my arm on the window sill. Can't say I rest my elbow against the door. Good fix though.

 

Thats a good repair in my book.

 

Nice ingenuity there! It's always satisfying to come up with a solution to keep our cool trucks rolling along