Armrest - early Voyager/Caravan

I am trying to switch around some components to make one car out of 2 ('86 & "85). One car has great mechanicals - one car has beautiful interior. Same color. Among the trim challenges: Armrest is badly worn thru on driver bucket seat - construction looks the same as middle seat armrest on the other car. How to remove the armrest? Does anyone know how these were assembled? (and therefore dis-assembled). Armrest pivots on a pin attached to a plate that screws into side of seat back. The 3 plate screws are near impossible to reach, which leads me to think that armrest ass'y might have been press fit onto pivot pin after plate was attached to seat. I unzippered the covering but found no way to separate armrest from pivot pin. Covering does not slip off; pivot pin is in the way. Any ideas apreciated. I know this qualifies as minutia, especially for cars this old, but I am hoping someone out there has some experience on interior trim for these models. My guess is that this same design was used for a few years after '86. Thanks, gang.... Bob

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BeeP
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Eventually I figured it out. Armrests on many of the 80s/early 90s minivans were assembled using a hardened star washer on the pivot pin behind a "C" retainer ring. Then the armrest was pressed on. The star washer jams into a round cavity in the plastic frame of the armrest. Careful prying with a really large flathead screwdriver removed the armrest. Straightening the star washer with pliers then allowed another similar armrest to be re-assembled to the pin. This allowed me to replace a ripped driver armrest with one in better shape. FYI for those interior restoration types out there.... Bob Voyager/Caravan

impossible

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BeeP

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