Stew80UT
GOLD Star
I have been meaning for a while to get a thread up for how I did my carpet and show some pictures of the process. I will preface this thread by saying there are precut kits available which I'm sure are great, but this is a cheaper option for those not looking to spend 500-1000 dollars. Our intention is to wheel the rig hard, its our fishing and camping rig and show room floor quality carpet was not the number one priority. The selected materials are affordable, are easy to install yourself and I feel it looks great. We use weather tech mats to alleviate unnecessary wear on the carpet.
So to begin obviously we need to gut the interior. Remove all your seats, the console, etc. Now is a good time to order the plastic push connector things that hold the interior together, you're going to break them anyway so just take care to not damage the panels. Most of it should just pull out by hand. I use these ones when going back together.
They are slightly bigger than factory but hold very tight and prevent the interior from rattling at all.
The carpet shouldnt be too much of a challenge to get out. If you rig is how mine was youll find about 15 dollars in spare change and a dozen hairties under the carpet.
The next few steps are going to be optional but I will how anyway.
You will need to remove the rear heat unit as well, theres decent write ups on that already so Ill spare you the reading. I elected to completely remove the rear heat option. I ground off the mounting studs for the unit and welded in a piece of steel over the hole. Its a good idea to use seam sealer on the bottom after your welding is complete and paint everything to prevent rust. Delta also sells a plug for this hole if youre not able to weld sheet metal. The welding here looks like crud, at the time I had a harbor freight machine, but it will do. You can sand it smooth if you like.
Next I removed all the plastic plugs from the tub and set them aside to reinstall later. I wanted to install new sound deadening material and purchased two boxes of Kilmat. I purchased this pack, although it is currently unavailable. Similar options are out there and will substitute fine.
The factory rubber in my rig was hard as a rock and a lot of it could be removed just by hitting it with a hammer, using a gasket scraper or a wire wheel on a 4 inch grinder. I welt over everything with the wire wheel while trying not to remove the factory paint/primer. Now is the time to repair any other rust you find. I had a big rust hole in the right rear wheel well and rust where you would put your left foot in the drivers footwell. Unfortunately this is another time when the right way to do it is to cut out all the cancer and weld in new material.
Pay special attention to the rear seat mounts and middle row seat belt mounts on the wheel well. My left seat belt mount was rusted out and was also repaired. Once all the repairs were made I sanded the entire tub with 220 sand paper, mostly by hand since the tub has so many variations its pretty tough to do with a sander. I went over all the repairs I made and the foot well areas with a sandable primer and also prepped it.
I dont have pictures of the tub after prepping but I had to get it completely clean in preparation for the next steps.
Mostly prepped and ready to shoot. For the tub I used black raptor liner and shot it thru a HVLP paint gun, to do so you need to reduce the product by 20% with urethane reducer. I used my old hood to get the spray pattern and air pressure correct. Doing it this way results in a much finer texture than the supplied gun in the raptor liner kit. At this time I also shot the tail gate and the grill.
It is a bit of a pain to use a hvlp on a horizontal surface, just dont fill the gun too much so it doesnt drip out of the cap or the vent and youll be alright. I let the raptor sit for a full weak before moving on.
I will follow up with a reply as I can not attach anymore pictures to this one.
So to begin obviously we need to gut the interior. Remove all your seats, the console, etc. Now is a good time to order the plastic push connector things that hold the interior together, you're going to break them anyway so just take care to not damage the panels. Most of it should just pull out by hand. I use these ones when going back together.
They are slightly bigger than factory but hold very tight and prevent the interior from rattling at all.
The carpet shouldnt be too much of a challenge to get out. If you rig is how mine was youll find about 15 dollars in spare change and a dozen hairties under the carpet.
The next few steps are going to be optional but I will how anyway.
You will need to remove the rear heat unit as well, theres decent write ups on that already so Ill spare you the reading. I elected to completely remove the rear heat option. I ground off the mounting studs for the unit and welded in a piece of steel over the hole. Its a good idea to use seam sealer on the bottom after your welding is complete and paint everything to prevent rust. Delta also sells a plug for this hole if youre not able to weld sheet metal. The welding here looks like crud, at the time I had a harbor freight machine, but it will do. You can sand it smooth if you like.
Next I removed all the plastic plugs from the tub and set them aside to reinstall later. I wanted to install new sound deadening material and purchased two boxes of Kilmat. I purchased this pack, although it is currently unavailable. Similar options are out there and will substitute fine.
The factory rubber in my rig was hard as a rock and a lot of it could be removed just by hitting it with a hammer, using a gasket scraper or a wire wheel on a 4 inch grinder. I welt over everything with the wire wheel while trying not to remove the factory paint/primer. Now is the time to repair any other rust you find. I had a big rust hole in the right rear wheel well and rust where you would put your left foot in the drivers footwell. Unfortunately this is another time when the right way to do it is to cut out all the cancer and weld in new material.
Pay special attention to the rear seat mounts and middle row seat belt mounts on the wheel well. My left seat belt mount was rusted out and was also repaired. Once all the repairs were made I sanded the entire tub with 220 sand paper, mostly by hand since the tub has so many variations its pretty tough to do with a sander. I went over all the repairs I made and the foot well areas with a sandable primer and also prepped it.
I dont have pictures of the tub after prepping but I had to get it completely clean in preparation for the next steps.
Mostly prepped and ready to shoot. For the tub I used black raptor liner and shot it thru a HVLP paint gun, to do so you need to reduce the product by 20% with urethane reducer. I used my old hood to get the spray pattern and air pressure correct. Doing it this way results in a much finer texture than the supplied gun in the raptor liner kit. At this time I also shot the tail gate and the grill.
It is a bit of a pain to use a hvlp on a horizontal surface, just dont fill the gun too much so it doesnt drip out of the cap or the vent and youll be alright. I let the raptor sit for a full weak before moving on.
I will follow up with a reply as I can not attach anymore pictures to this one.
