Dash Surround retainer repair options?

[jballard81]

Good afternoon!

Has anyone had any luck repairing the plastic retaining tabs that hold the little metal clips into the dash? All but one on my has broken off

maybe epoxy/glue them onto whichever tab matches up the best? I have a 3d printer and just enough CAD skill to be dangerous. I'm leaning towards epoxy, but wanted to reach out to the forum. I didn't see much (maybe i'm calling it the wrong thing?) when i was searching earlier..

edit: lol please excuse the absolute disarray of my work bench. it is exactly as chaotic as it looks

 

[jballard81]

Well, I decided to give epoxy a shot. Inserted a dowel into the broken end and then the metal clip. I'm using uv cure resin bc that's what I had on hand

 

[4x4junkie]

It's been many years since I dealt with this on mine,but I seem to recall what I did was use a sheetmetal screw to attach the clips back onto the surround. The correct-sized screw will create it's own threads inside the hole in the center of the post (I think it was a #8 sheetmetal screw I used, but I won't swear to it).

Epoxy glue (JB Weld) didn't hold for me though.

Edit:
Here's a pic... You can see the philips-head screw holding the clip on:

 

[jballard81]

It's been many years since I dealt with this on mine,but I seem to recall what I did was use a sheetmetal screw to attach the clips back onto the surround. The correct-sized screw will create it's own threads inside the hole in the center of the post (I think it was a #8 sheetmetal screw I used, but I won't swear to it).

Epoxy glue (JB Weld) didn't hold for me though.

Edit:
Here's a pic... You can see the philips-head screw holding the clip on:

View attachment 106714

This is a great idea! I feel like my epoxy job would be a one-time answer (hopefully) at best. So next time i have to pull it off, i will definitely use this trick. thanks for sharing!