Anyone know how to remove the rear Armrest and cupholder? I've seen two threads that shows DVD player installed in the cupholder slots, but really no installation tips.

Do you need to remove the rear seats?

 

I'll try and explain this the best I can from the info in the service manual. You don't have to remove the rear seat.

Put the armrest down.
Put your right hand across the top of the armrest, all the way at the rear end
Put your thumb down along the side about 1" in from the end
Push hard with your thumb
You will see a black plastic clip with a notched part sticking out towards you
Pull on that piece to remove it

Now it gets a little harder to explain

Slide the armrest towards the driver's side of the vehicle
There is a collar on each side of the arm rest
It says to remove the pivot shaft from the collar on the passenger's side first, by pulling forward on the arm rest
Then it says to remove the pivot shaft from the collar on the driver's side by pulling up on the arm rest

THat's it. Hopefully you have now removed the armrest without tearing anything up.

Install in reverse order.

 

Thanks Ron. I found the notch the first time I tried, but couldn't figure out which method to pull the arm rest out. I'll try later today.

 

Okay, I got the arm rest out and unzipped the leather cover. There is no real way of removing the cupholder without possibly dislodging the cover where it's "glued" to the lining of the cupholder slot.

Another thing I noticed was the foam itself. You'll need to cut into the foam and create a large enough cavity to provide circulation for the dvd player. The dvd player can get hot during operation. A large cavity would reduce the back support that you might need when it's in the up position. Therefore, I don't think this is a viable option if you're planning on carrying a 3rd passenger in the rear.

I'm opting to leave the dvd player where its currently at: underneath the passenger seat. When the seat is moved all the way to front, the driver can eject/insert dvds. Likewise the rear passengers. When the seat is moved midway to full rear, the dvd player is well hidden.