Upper-Glove Box Spring Issue DIY Repair Guide

So, I am repairing a lot of little things on my new-to-me 2006 prius with 150k. Among the issues I have had the fortune with which to deal, is the seemingly common upper-glove box issue, where the plastic retaining the spring leg on the right hand side of the upper-glove box breaks, liberating the spring leg from its prison, and allowing it to come to a halt, pushing up the dash behind the glove box.

Most individuals have had luck drilling a new hole under the previous retainer area. I considered this but then realized that I would have the spring leg poking into the inside of the glove compartment, and that it wouldnt have the same kind of contact it did previously.

Others have melted the plastic back over the spring and reinforced with epoxy. I dont have the spare plastic that snapped off, so I chose to go the reinforcement route. Here is the walkthrough:


Things you'll need:
1. Broken Glove Box
2. Qtips
3. Paper towels
4. Q tips
3. Epoxy (I got the stuff with the strongest PSI rating. JB Weld clear
2. Sander (kind of optional, but not really optional.. the surface needs to be roughed up)
4. Alcohol (to remove any oils or residue from the surface to be bonded)
8. Q tips
1. Lubricant (OPTIONAL, and actually probably wouldnt do this if I were doing this again....)




Step 1: Secure the spring using something like wire or clamps. I wanted to get the spring in as close to the original position as possible, so I used wire to hold it in place. Had to use 3 pieces because when I was twisting just one, it would eventually snap under the tension.



Step 2: Prepare the surface by sanding it, scraping it up, and wiping with alcohol



Step 3: OPTIONAL I added a tiny amount of lube to the spring leg, thinking that it might want to rotate as the lid raises up, and I did not want the epoxy to be under stress from that torsion, so I coated just the spring leg with some lubricant, hoping the epoxy would dry, and have such a weak bond with the spring leg, that it could rotate freely, similar to how it originally did. Looking at the work I did, I'm thinking the leg probably doesnt rotate enough to warrant this step, so maybe try skipping it?


Step 4: Apply layers of epoxy (Optional: add infrastructure)
The next step was to replace the lost plastic with layers of epoxy. This stuff was kind of runny, so I had to prop the lid up on a roll of paper towels, and I had to do a total of 4 layers, waiting about 10 minutes between each one to give it time to thicken up before adding the next layer. I ended up creating a wireframe and tossing that in there in an attempt to help the epoxy build vertical height rather than spreading out horizontally and seeping places where I didnt want it.



Step 5: After curing for a few hours, clean up and remove supports
I then cut away the support wire that was holding down the spring leg and used a razor blade to clean up any drips I didnt want. I have yet to fit this into the prius and I'm afraid my big glob of reinforced epoxy might be too big to fit, but epoxy is sandable, so I may have to shape it up a little with the sander before I can install.



Hope this helps someone!