I have seen two cup holders that will screw down to the center console at most auto parts. They come in black. Plastic paint can make it any color you want.

Consoles do not work on the hump with cutting to fit. The angle of the hump is to steep. If you have center passengers it could be a discomfort for them.

 

OK, I looked and there's no studs on the front of the bench and I pushed in on the fabric and couldn't feel any holes. Maybe I missed them, but that doesn't seem to be an easy fix. I am trying to attach a picture of the ashtray hole if that helps in that direction. Thx

 

Depending on the year you may not have them. I replaced my worn to the springs bench seat from a donor at the salvage yard and then I recovered it
with an exact fit seat cover Automotive Seat Covers items in Exact Seat Covers store on eBay! on eBay. It was a perfect fit for me. I covered right over a red bench seat with a tan and you can't even tell.

 

I haven't read this whole thread and my truck has cup holders, but a full roll of duct tape set on the seat beside you makes an excellent cup holder.

 

There's no holes; It's the opposite...

There's studs there, that the cupholders snap onto..

But not all trucks have the studs..

My 94 XL didn't..

 

I thought the studs screwed into holes in the front of the seat. Assuming that, with no studs present, I might be able to press on the fabric and feel/detect the holes the studs would screw into. Does this make sense?

I saw some of those unit for sale on eBay with the studs.

Thanks

 

I finally got the studs and had some time around Christmas time to get this done with my daughter. See my post from Nov 2012. I was able to unhook the bench seat fabric and pull it up and out of the way to check the seat frame for the holes.. there were none. So I centered the cup holder and marked where the studs should go. Drilled pilot holes, replaced the fabric and installed the studs. The cup holder fits and functions great. I have pictures to post but for some reason my profile does not allow me to upload pics.

 

Ok, so there was appropriate metal to drill/tap? That is indeed good news. I may proceed this way.

I was thinking of trying to cobble something into the ashtray slot as my ashtray is broken and doesn't stay in anyway. But I think your approach would produce better results.

Thanks for the information...

 

Ok, so I purchased the "front-of-the-bench" cup holder and studs from a seller on ebay, removed the seat and attempted to drill and tap holes to fit the studs.

I found that the metal frame on my particular seat is too thin to actually tap, so I ended up drilling the holes large enough for the studs to fit through and secured them with washers and nuts. They are 1/4 x 28 threads. I happened to have a couple of nuts in that size in the spare parts bin.

One thing to note is that the frame is actually a tube so there wasn't any access to put the nuts on. I had to drill pilot holes, drill 1/2" expansion holes and use a nibbler tool to enlarge the holes to the point where I could insert the nuts/washers with needle nose pliers and insert an end wrench as back up to tighten the studs. (All this for a decent cup-holder solution!)

As a further aside, I guess the kids in Dearborn finally got the message as my 2011 F150 has about 6 cup holders I can use in the front seats.

Anyway, I appreciate all the hints at a reasonable solution and I hope this helps someone else wandering in that particular wilderness. Here's a picture. (What an ugly seat cover, huh?)



New Cupholders Photo by rvinyard | Photobucket

 

 

i know this is old but i have 3 sets of studs if any one needs some