Custom Cupholder

[Zenobian_84]

There was another thread on there done by Fire4755 about him making a cupholder for fit in the notch between the shifter and his bench seat. This thread is for those of us who, (for whatever reason :nuts: :shake: ) want to keep the original bench seat in instead of doing the swap over to the XJ buckets like so many others have. Hold onto your butts, 'cuz this one isn't gonna be pretty! :hateputers:

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First of all, to get the ball rolling so to speak. Head over to your local hardware store, and pickup some cheap, 1/2 plywood (In my case, Home Depot, and the wood was the second cheapest at just over $3.00 for a good 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 slab) Then what I proceeded to do was cut that piece directly in half, giving myself 2 equal sizes. (At this point, it doesn't matter how big the sizes are, it's just to shear down the overall size of the wood so you can work with something smaller.) After doing so, I trimmed it down even more, just to get the first starting piece on the far left side.

 

 

Next, you're going to want to go measure the spacing horizontally between the U pieces of the bench, as pictured below (another crappy cell-phone picture... :fs1: ) Which, for those of you who aren't able to see the tape (myself included) it measures out to about 12 and 1/2 in.

 

Give or take a half inch due to falling seat padding pushing out, I decided to go with 13 inches, just to be safe; along with finding the direct center of the wood (no real reason, but it makes measuring easier, mainly because I used to do things like this in my high school drafting class all the time.)

 

Now that you have a nice long piece of wood, you want to measure just how wide it needs to be, once again, since my padding pushes out, the measurement is up to you.

 

The 13x7 in piece of wood. Preferably cut 2 pieces of this equal length, for the top of the holder, and the bottom. As you can see, it just barely fits with it's rectangular shape.

 

I didn't get an image of the next step, but basically the next step is to sand down or cut pieces of the wood off into hexagonal shapes to be able to fit inside the crevices of that U shape. This step only took me about 10 minutes to get the shape right. I probably sound like a broken record, but whatever shape you want the corners or shape to be is up to you. I just did the bare minimum to meet my own requirements of fitting. Nothing fancy, and the picture is with the wood sanded down. Notice the convenient cell-phone / mp3 slot I cut out, generally because I'm on the road a lot and my phone likes to die when I least expect it.

 

For the next step, you need to get either blocks of wood (like I used) or whatever you can find to attach the two pieces together. I happened to have some thick wood laying around I used in another project a year or so ago, so I used this. The measurements of my blocks are 2 1/2 x 2 1/2. Basically a square. After you have the blocks or whatever it is you plan on attaching the top to the bottom with, you can go ahead and attach them, if you don't feel like painting them. I on the other hand, wanted to try and match the interior of my truck. So here's the shot of everything being primed with some $3.00 wood primer spray paint. Nothing too over the top.

 

Now that you have everything primed, you can get some wood paint to match the color of your interior, or whatever you would like. I went with some Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Glossy paint to use as the primary color (Global Blue) from Walmart. Total cost for a can was about $2.50 and $2.50 for Krylon primer. As you can see, not bad for $5.00 :thumbsup:

 

Once everything is painted with at least 2 coats of both primer and paint,(or not) assemble your pieces someplace where you can attach everything. For me, that would be inside my dining room because it's been 100 degrees here in Central FL for the last week, and I don't like working in extreme heat. :fs1: The next step would be drilling holes for the screws to give everything an easier time fitting. I went with 1/4 inch wood screws from Lowe's for about $3.00? for a small box with like 100 or so (not that you'll be using that many :rotfl2: ) and a 1/4 inch drill bit for drilling the holes. My spacing is 2 inches apart for each grouping of holes (refer 3 pictures up from here) and should be done on both the top and bottom pieces of wood; mainly for durability.

 

Mockup picture on how my pieces would fit together.

 

Now, once you have everything screwed together however you decided to fashion things, you should have a cup-holder that vaguely resembles the below picture

The most important thing I can stress during this part is to have everything centered perfectly, unless you want a giant crack running through one of your wood pieces :doh: :fs2: (the straight black line on the left piece was just bad shadowing caused from an odd cut)

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If you somehow managed to get this far, the below image is what you should now be seeing!

A completely finished and usable cupholder. Custom tailored to your individual needs. The end price I ended up paying for the materials to make this was roughly $15 :thumbsup: Hope this helps those of you in need out there. :cheers:

[landlubber]

I did this mod a few weeks back. I remember seeing the old diy a while ago and was waiting around for a ride, saw some plywood and got to it.

 

Did it all with a table saw, angle grinder, and hole saw.

 

The only thing i was really looking for was something to fit 32oz gatorade bottles, which it does, with a little under 1/2" room left

 

I cut up some clear hose and put it around the openings, so its more like 1/4" now, but it looks nicer and covers up some raw wood.

 

I sprayed it primer i had sitting around.

 

 

[Zenobian_84]

I did this mod a few weeks back. I remember seeing the old diy a while ago and was waiting around for a ride, saw some plywood and got to it.

 

Did it all with a table saw, angle grinder, and hole saw.

 

The only thing i was really looking for was something to fit 32oz gatorade bottles, which it does, with a little under 1/2" room left

 

I cut up some clear hose and put it around the openings, so its more like 1/4" now, but it looks nicer and covers up some raw wood.

 

I sprayed it primer i had sitting around.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes I wish I had taken more time to make it look right, like yours does. :eek: Nice job :thumbsup:

[landlubber]

yeah, well any cupholders are better than no cupholders. :cheers:

 

I still haven't decided on the finished product yet, but I'm thinking pvc or something in the holes so it will be sectioned off.

 

probably just screw it to the trans hump seeing how I'm lacking the shifter trim to keep things from sliding around.

[my86mj]

hate to bust your bubble man but i found a simple solution. cost me 6 bucks at fred meyers 2 cup cup holder with casette holder

[MJeep]

hate to bust your bubble man but i found a simple solution. cost me 6 bucks at fred meyers 2 cup cup holder with casette holder

Do you have a picture of this?

[Zenobian_84]

I would also be very interested in pictures of this

[Optimaldave]

I just got a bicycle cup holder, put a 4 odd inch threaded rod and a drywall anchor through it and then through one of the vents. Let the anchor expand behind the two sides of the hole in the dash for the vent, pull it taught, tighten the screw and it is rock solid. Only have on in the center of the cab but I can add another passenger side if I wanted too.

 

Cost me nothing but I already had the cup holder on an old bike so may cost $10 or so to buy one if needed. Can take pics/mini write-up if you all are interested.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Zenobian_84]

I just got a bicycle cup holder, put a 4 odd inch threaded rod and a drywall anchor through it and then through one of the vents. Let the anchor expand behind the two sides of the hole in the dash for the vent, pull it taught, tighten the screw and it is rock solid. Only have on in the center of the cab but I can add another passenger side if I wanted too.

 

Cost me nothing but I already had the cup holder on an old bike so may cost $10 or so to buy one if needed. Can take pics/mini write-up if you all are interested.

 

Cheers

Dave

I wouldn't mind seeing this. Sounds a lot better than what some of us use :yes:

[Optimaldave]

I just got a bicycle cup holder, put a 4 odd inch threaded rod and a drywall anchor through it and then through one of the vents. Let the anchor expand behind the two sides of the hole in the dash for the vent, pull it taught, tighten the screw and it is rock solid. Only have on in the center of the cab but I can add another passenger side if I wanted too.

 

Cost me nothing but I already had the cup holder on an old bike so may cost $10 or so to buy one if needed. Can take pics/mini write-up if you all are interested.

 

Cheers

Dave

I wouldn't mind seeing this. Sounds a lot better than what some of us use :yes:

 

Made a new thread

 

see: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=35847

 

Dave

[apexjeepinjoe]

hate to bust your bubble man but i found a simple solution. cost me 6 bucks at fred meyers 2 cup cup holder with casette holder

 

We need a picture!!

[1tonMJ]

I would like to try this, but I was thinking of using that hard plastic material they use for cutting boards. Proper length bolts with nuts and washers, and sleeves to keep the distance. I think it would look real good with the Fusion paint.

 

However, does anyone else notice how well a cup or bottle stays if tucked into the passenger side curve of the seat? My big @$$ coffee cup almost never moves, only during extreme maneuvers.