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Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:44 am

I had a Vanagon a few years ago and the glove box was held in the open position by a string. The one I have now doesn't. It has the stock stop to keep it in the open position. I want to remove it to get to some wiring and the only way I see to do that is to bend over the stops on each end but I don't want to end up with a string again so I thought I'd check to see if there is something I'm missing. Thanks in advance.

Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:56 am

I always carefully bend the side tabs in until they cleared the stop and the glove box could swing all the way down. It was always nerve wracking to do that but I have not broken one yet. :shock:

Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:01 pm

dobryan wrote: I always carefully bend the side tabs in until they cleared the stop and the glove box could swing all the way down. It was always nerve wracking to do that but I have not broken one yet. :shock:

Same here. Make sure to empty the glove box first. I've made that mistake.

Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:03 pm

Thanks guys. I suspected that as I couldn't see another way but I just wanted to be sure.

Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:00 pm

I've always had Vanagons ('85 and back) that had the rubber cords to hold the glove box.

So, the first thing I did with my '86 was try to muscle it and ended up breaking off both tabs. And it was frigid cold outside, so I'm sure that helped.

Wishing you a better technique, Ron!

Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:21 pm

joetiger wrote: I've always had Vanagons ('85 and back) that had the rubber cords to hold the glove box.

So, the first thing I did with my '86 was try to muscle it and ended up breaking off both tabs. And it was frigid cold outside, so I'm sure that helped.

Wishing you a better technique, Ron!

Maybe I'll warm them up for a second with a heat gun of they feel a bit stiff.

Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:27 pm

Heat is your friend.

Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:31 pm

Even many modern cars require you ti slightly deform the plastic glove box to disengage the stop feature and allow it to drop down.

This is often step one in replacing the cabin air filter.

It isn't an unusual design at all.

Dave

Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:38 pm

the older vans(1980) there are two plastic leashes with a ball on one and a loop on the other, I'm surprised mine have lasted 38 years!

Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:50 pm

Sort of on topic, our old leashes were nasty when buying our van. I took two lengths of "climbing-grade" rope, maybe 4 or 5mm, knotted the front ends against the holes in the painted metalwork (for lack of a better term), knotted the back ends, and *forced* the rope into the little plastic slots of the glovebox.

It looks cool and will hold about a 500 lb. tug for a couple decades. :D