Headliner removal: any trick or shortcut?

[e9999]

still reeling from the spinning nutsert in the roof rack.
Trying to regain my composure here...
Soooo, how bad is it to remove the headliner? FSM seems to say you gotta start at the bottom of the rig and work your way up taking everything off... Surely that's not true, right? Any magic to this, bending the right part or something so it comes right off by itself right away?

If not, how long a job is this?

E

 

[cruiserdan]

I hate to rain on your parade but you pretty much need to follow what the book says. Yomama can chime in here and steer me in a different direction. I DO know that the headliner is un-Godly expensive and you DO NOT want to mess it up. A new one is in the neighborhood of a thousand bucks I would not attempt to drop and extract the headliner without an extra set of hands.

Good luck, D-

 

[CDN_Cruiser]

I think the 'shop time' is something like 3hrs...likely more for you and I

 

[RavenTai]

Removing the headliner is PITA, I was PO'd and got it done in about 2 hours? (guess, did not actually clock it) working pretty much straight through,

The bad news is that removing the headliner only gets you to the aft row, the foreword row is covered by the sunroof pan, if you have spinners there the sunroof and ALL of its components will have to come out also (my next hurtle)

Most of the interior uses blind clips, do not use excessive force, if anything does not just pop off you are working from the wrong angle, readjust and try to put you lifting force near the clip and parallel to it, if you try to use the panel as a pry bar far away from the clip you will induce an angle you are going to break something,

The headliner is very stiff and weak this combination is bad, it needs to be supported at both ends at all times

You are taking off a lot of parts, parts bags are helpful to keep every thing organized, I did not do this and have a S-load of parts all over the floor of my cruiser, I will have to organize all this to attack the sunroof

When it was built the headliner went in first and everything else went in after, kind of like shingles on a roof each layer covers the other There are a few places I was able to cheat, but basically You have to start from the floor and work your way up,

First cheat was I only had to pull up the aft section of the USDS “cowl side trim” to take the whole thing up you have to remove the dead pedal, also you are suppose to remove the “quarter trim” to get the rear seat side garnish and the rear pillar garnish out I was able to just pull the front and rear up about a foot leaving the center attacked

I also did not remove the “front door opening trim” as it appears to be glued in, the inner lip that holds the headliner is flexible and I was able to carefully work the headliner around it like a zipper starting from the rear and working foreword, the trim is much sturdier than the headliner if you let it relax it will damage the headliner, this should be your last support of the headliner, once you do one side you can just lift it out of the other as long as it is free every where else

Start in the rear and after you get the back portion undone close the hatch and leave it closed until the headliner is down. the center stop light will support it until you open the hatch, you should leave on of the plastic clips in the center rear of the headliner iuntil the last minute for a safety just in case

Hope that helps

 

[e9999]

well, I started. So far no biggie. Most of the trim and garnishes pull right off. Only difficulty is to feel your way carefully through pulling the pins without damaging too much. I've removed most of the trims on one side. I don't imagine the belts and handles are too bad, but it might get more interesting around the sunroof area. Surely, I don't have to remove the sunroof too, right? RIGHT...?

Dan, what's this about not dropping the headliner alone? How brittle is this thing?

E

 

[RavenTai]

you do not have to remove the sunroof to get the headliner out, to get to the foreward row of screws in the roof rack you have to remove the sunroof pan

 

[e9999]

Hi Raven, your first message overlapped with mine.
This is good info.
I've already removed the cowl side trim, front door opening trim, and quarter trim. All on the PS only. All came out without fuss. There is indeed some black goop holding the front door opening trim but not much. It's more a sealant than glue. A mild pull will get the thing off easily (unless you think it was benefit to keep it in place to support the headliner.
What's the connection between the light and the hatch?
thanks
Eric

 

[RavenTai]

if the hatch is closed the center stop light stop light housing will support the rear of the headliner from falling down wile you work on the front, if you just let the rear of the headliner droop wile the front is still bolted in it makes a siskening crucning noise as it bends in the middle, this is one bit of info I wish I did not know

 

[e9999]

if the hatch is closed the center stop light stop light housing will support the rear of the headliner from falling down wile you work on the front, if you just let the rear of the headliner droop wile the front is still bolted in it makes a siskening crucning noise as it bends in the middle, this is one bit of info I wish I did not know

got it, didn't realize you meant the light on the hatch, was thinking roof light.

I've got a height adjustable support. I'll put it in the back with a 2x4 on it and hold the liner up that way, maybe that'll limit the damage.

Then, of course, why do we need a liner in the first place? Can't be that ugly without it. Could use some plastic coating...

E

 

[RavenTai]

Can't be that ugly without it.

hmmm, I'll kepp my headliner