RAM cupholder modification

[wezx]

I love the RAM products. Have the phone holder and also the drink holder. The drink holder is great but the way the arm attaches to the mount is pretty poorly designed in my opinion. There’s just a regular screw to hold it on. #1 The screw comes loose. You could use Loctite but it invariably comes loose because you can’t really tighten it down as then the cup holder doesn’t swivel. #2 Screw threads obviously aren’t the best thing for the plastic arm to swivel on. I would love to add a bearing there but I doubt anyone makes a bearing that small, so I used a small brass bushing from a salvaged electronics piece of equipment. I drilled out the bushing to accommodate the screw and drilled out the plastic mounting arm to accommodate the bushing. The bushing is slightly longer than the plastic arm so you can really tighten down the screw without impeding the motion of the arm. I then drilled and tapped for a set screw to keep the mounting screw from backing out. A little silicone grease on the bushing and it is rock solid and yet swivels really easily!

[oakback]

Wow nice work! Where do folks mount them? Is there anywhere on the handlebar that works, without trimming away the cover?

[wezx]

The drink holder comes with a handlebar mount. It attaches where your handlebar controls mount (see photo).

The phone mount comes with a 4 screw flat mount which I put on the center piece (see photo). Some people mount their phone off of the handlebars...there are a lot of accessories and mounts and such that RAM makes...you can mix and match to get it the way you want it...

[minimac]

I had the same issue on my cup holder. I ended up doing something similar(not quite as involved though) to try to fix it. For the price they charge for the cup holders, you'd think they would have done something similar! Nice work on your finished product, and thanks for the pictures of your remedy.

[wezx]

I had the same issue on my cup holder. I ended up doing something similar(not quite as involved though) to try to fix it. For the price they charge for the cup holders, you'd think they would have done something similar! Nice work on your finished product, and thanks for the pictures of your remedy.

Hey thanks! Yeah, I agree. It’s a really crappy lazy design for something of that price.

[ka4yqi]

Have to keep this in mind as I just installed one on the trike.

[wezx]

I used a brass spacer from an old electronics unit that I kept around for parts, but you can probably buy a brass or aluminum spacer at a hardware store. Make sure you use one that is slightly longer than the “U” shaped arm...in other words make sure you can see a slight sliver of the spacer on BOTH sides of the arm. That way you can really crank down the arm mounting screw so it’s rock solid and yet still easily swivels.

[Corkster52]

This is a great idea! I will have to do it to mine! Thanks

[Motogordo]

Dec. 16, 2021
I have the RAM ball mount with the plastic cup. I solved the loose screw problem by just using super glue on the screw and washer. No problem of loose screw anymore.

Motogordo

[wezx]

Only problem with that is you still have the cup arm plastic riding on the sharp screw threads (RAM uses a wood screw). Installing the bushing and using a machine screw with a set screw to lock it in place avoids this.