Far rear factory cargo light install. A little help? (1 Viewer)

[Skillet]

Have any of you ever installed the far rear factory cargo lamp that came in non U.S. vehicles?

If so, can you give me a measurement of where the hole is to cut the headliner and install it?

I do not want to have to tear off the head liner to dig around and find it as the headliner never goes back correctly.

At least, not for me.

 

[Rich]

You have to drop the headliner to fetch the wire harness. No way I would start cutting or drilling without seeing for myself what's up.

 

[Skillet]

how do you drop the headliner back there?

Looks like a huge pain in the ass.

I did a search but could not find anything.

 

[Rich]

From memory, I removed the rear carpet metal trim from the back hatch, in order to pull open the lower rear plastic interior body panels, so that I could remove the upper two plastic panels at the rear of the truck. I removed the four grab handles, the four pieces of plastic behind the four upper seat belt mounts (have to unbolt the seat belt guides from the pillars first), the five (not sure on quantity) plastic buttons in the headliner, the two existing dome lamps, and lastly, the upper rubber trim that covers the raw edge of the headliner at the back of the hatch and above each of the rear passenger doorways.

After doing all this, the front of the headliner is still attached, which means the rear of the headliner needs to be supported at all times, otherwise it will break. It is made of thin brittle fiberglass. Best to have a helper. And also have on hand 3 or 4 large spring clamps. With some padding, the spring clamps can be used to clamp the rear of the headliner up, so your helper can rest her arms from time to time.

All of this is per my '97. I don't know how your '93 will be different from mine, other than you will have the wire harness for the cargo lamp, my '97 did not.

I did not install the smaller factory rear cargo dome lamp. I obtained a factory middle row dome lamp, milled a spacer from walnut, milled the lamp to mount flat on the spacer, all so I did not have to cut the headliner and the overhead sheet metal. All I had to do was make one very small hole in the headliner for the wire, and four small holes for the mounting screws. This approach was a lot more work, but avoided the risk of the "one shot only" of cutting the sheet metal in the right spot.

Given the approach I took, I don't have any information to direct you where to cut. I mounted my lamp horizontally centered. I don't know if the factory cargo dome mounts exactly centered or not.

 

[medtro]

http://www.jimreiss.com/rear_cargo_light.htm

 

[Skillet]

http://www.jimreiss.com/rear_cargo_light.htm

Not only is the light that Cdan sent me much smaller than this, but my rig has a very cloth-like headliner that does not come down in one piece. It is kind of sewn up there. Early 1993 model.

Either I have the wrong light or I need a different approach.

Thanks for the input though.

 

[cruiserdan]

You have the correct lamp.


With the suspended headliner 93 you will need to pull the liner back in order to cut a hole in the rear roof rail. You will need to remove the tail gate weatherstrip, the upper pinch-weld moulding and both C-pillar garnishes. After you get the liner pulled back you will find a raised area just to the left of the center-line of the vehicle. That area is the same shape as the lamp and that is where you cut your hole. I made a cardboard template and fitted it to the lamp and then transferred it to the rail. I cut the hole with a dremmel.

The harness is taped to the bundle in the upper LH C-pillar.

 

[medtro]

Smaller like this?

 

[cruiserdan]

Here are some shots from my installation:

Note George's custom Luxon LED in the lower pic.

 

[cruiserdan]

Three more:

 

[cruiserdan]

Excercise extreme caution when dealing with the headliner. I suggest you only do this in warm weather and handle the liner with kid gloves. It is 14 years old and not as supple as it was when new. A replacement is north of a thousand bucks, go slow.

 

[topend yobbo]

Always wondered why you blokes didn't get the rear light?
Toyota had some strange ideas.

 

[cruiserdan]

The cargo light was only installed in vehicles without third row seats.

 

[Skillet]

Wow, thanks for the info Dan...and everyone else!

 

[topend yobbo]

The cargo light was only installed in vehicles without third row seats.

Learn something new every second day.

 

[davegonz]

Dan,
How much do one of those run?

 

[cruiserdan]

About 29 bucks for the one in my photos. The George LED is not included. I think he gets about 30 bucks for one.

 

[Bluetribal]

OK so I plan to tackle the rear cargo light this Saturday and I have been reading over this thread and a couple others, (Cargo Light Photos & Rear Cargo Light, Tieing Into Existing Wiring), as well as all the web links in those.
But with a rattled head I have two questions for now.
In all the headliner removal descriptions, no one explains the two little roof speakers and how to get them off. I already have a cracked one from poking around a couple months ago and I think someone said they are screwed in but how do you get to the screws?
And can anyone confirm that the 96' cruisers has or does not have the wiring in the driver rear pillar. I am thinking no, that it stops at 93' so I will have to pull wire from the middle light fixture.

 

[Bluetribal]

Any help would be appreciated, I am also wondering if you end up dropping the front of the headliner? If so no one has mentioned all the stuff you would have to remove like the visors and front Oh $h!t handles.

 

[Bear80]

You don't pull the speaker grills from the outside. You need to drop the WHOLE headliner, '95-97 they are a soild one piece. Then on the back side of the headliner you remove the grills. As for removing the headliner you're going to pretty much have to gut all the rear panels, then piller panels, all the handels, both overhead lights and sun visors. A FSM would be a huge help, I pulled mine a few years ago without it but I had plently of experince with 'yotas. I suggest picking up a FSM. Also have another person help you when you drop the headliner, it can crease easily due to the lenght.