Sprinter Drink Holders Suck! - Resolved!

[JayBea]

Hi All,

Anyone who has driven or been in the passenger seat on a long trip quickly finds that the European idea of drink holders just does not jive with the American use of large mugs. The door cavities designed for drinks are large (not large enough) yet they require a certain amount of agility to insert and extract a drink while driving. The dash drink holders work great if you have a small cup but don't fit anything large. Don't even get me started on the silly design of the ash tray / drink holder!

Well, I have designed and fabricated my own solution.

First, here is the ash tray. This is easily removed with a thin trim tool along both sides of the tray to release the catches and pulling the tray out, one side at a time.



Once I had the ash tray in hand, I fabricated a plywood box of the same size with an extended shelf on the top. To this shelf I attached a dual adjustable drink holder purchased from Autozone.

This is what the box looks like (sorry for the blurred photo)


Now I inserted the box into the cavity and used one sheet metal screw to secure it to the dash structure and here is the result! You will also notice that I just happened to find a small pail to use as a trash receptacle.


Now we can cruise down the road with our drinks handy!

JIM

[tonyvoudy]

Very nifty! Nice modification!

[Critter]

I hate to be pest, but I have looked at Autozone and did not see any adjustable dual cup holders like the one you used. Can you give me any additional information on how to find one like that? See what happens when you show someone your handy work. I really do like your fix and it is giving me some ideas, but I will need a similiar adjustable dual cup holder as you used to get started. Thank you.
Regards,
Bill Critter

[Critter]

http://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-SMT-Twin- ... UTF8&psc=1

Please disregard my request, I believe I found the adjustable cup holder you used at Amazon.com and ordered. Thank you again for sharing your fix with us.
Regards,
Bill Critter

[Chumley]

Well Jim between you and Llamadave the aftermarket guys have some reverse engineering to do.

Neccessity is the mother of invention here at work.

Now can one of you guys get me a Bluetooth microphone in the van that works for my cell phone?

Thanks.

Chumley

[joesulak]

Went with your concept and had a friend make one out of plastic, great idea JayBea!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AKG9TKmFf3FruK2C8
https://photos.app.goo.gl/LhPl0CKYroaoY3Zr1

[Steadijib]

I agree one of my only complaints that and the very anemic sounding horn.Valid file extensions: bmp doc gif jpe jpeg jpg pdf png psd skp txt zip
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[mikemikemike]

I can't believe I'm posting about a cup holder, but for my part I was actually delighted by how they worked out. I first tried to slot the water bottles I normally use in, and they were mostly too wide at the base to fit.

I then tried the Kleen Kanteen 16 oz insulated tumbler I happened to have got for the van, and it fits perfectly. It works better for me than the water bottles I've always used (in my no-cup-holder-having previous cars) because I don't have to open it up to drink. And it's stainless. Simple pleasures. Recommended.

Kudos for your motivation and ingenuity! Your giant mugs look very comfortable...

On another note - anyone have any idea what this little plastic cylinder is? Found it in one of the cup slots, but can't think what it would be designed to hold.

[Steadijib]

I think it was some kind of an ash tray it does have a cig lighter. I can give you mine if you want two...

[Mer1039]

I've been thinking of making an improved Sprinter cup holder for some time but just never came up a simple design that I could hack together in my garage. By chance while searching Google images for design ideas I came across a product at sprintervanzone.com. They make a dual cup holder for the Sprinter that securely locks onto the original pull out cup holder without any additional hardware.

I ordered and received the dual cup holder. I must say that the design is elegant and takes 10 seconds to attach or detach. The cup holder was made on a 3D printer and fits perfectly.

I've attached a few pics of the cup holder in my Sprinter.