Sunroof to Skylight and Headliner Removal (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Dec 4, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
362
Location
Livermore, CA
Like many others, I had sunroof rattle. I tried the standard fixes (half-heartedly) but it kept getting worse. It didn't surprise me that adding stiff suspension to a 14-year old luxury car would cause issues like this, and personally, I don't care for sunroofs. I've been dreaming of a way to delete the sunroof for a while, but didn't have the guts or the cash to have it welded shut and was coming up short on ideas. Luckily I found this thread:
LTDSC Build Thread - Page 74 - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum
and decided that was good enough for me. We've got a big winter road trip planned, and I wasn't ready to handle 5,000 miles of rattling. I know this isn't groundbreaking, but I decided to document it here on Mud anyway because it's a great site and I owe this community so much. Plus I don't know how to use any other parts of the internet :flipoff2:

So here are way too many pictures and details of my never-ending quest to make this truck simpler:

I read a quote once in reference to headliners, and that "they drop them in and then build the car around them". So, we start from the bottom:

Rear hatch kick panel + all other kick panels

6x seatbelt covers and bolts (label them, they're not all the same)

Third row seat brackets

Rear quarter panel has some screws under the carpet

Rear overhead light

Some random headliner clips

B pillar

A pillar

Visor screws

Front overhead light (there's a middle one too, forgot to take a picture)

8x oh-s*** bars

The rear upper quarter panels have these two clips along the roof rail that were super annoying to remove. I resorted to jamming my hand behind the panel with a screwdriver and prying the red section off the white clip. Not sure that's how Toyota would do it, but it's all I could think of. Hardest part of the removal for me by far.

After there's no interior of your GX left, you can drop the headliner! I had a friend help in exchange for a few beers and some grilled chicken

And then you have to pull the wiring harness off so you can remove it

Empty!

Remove the 10 or so bolts and nuts holding the sunroof tray in

There are 4 brackets (2 front, 2 rear) that support it from the bottom. Loosen the bolts that hold these to the body to move them out of the way.
 
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There are also several welded roof bolts that hold the sunroof up. This in combination with the brackets makes it almost impossible to drop on your head as you loosen it, but it also makes it tricky to drop out unless you completely remove the 4 brackets.

No more sunroof! Just a big hole

Also time to get that nasty drain tubing out (x4)

The guilty, i.e. rattling, culprit

Now stripped of the motor and all moving parts (like-new sunroof motor for sale!)

But for us fair-skinned or heat-adverse drivers, you might want the sliding shade back!

Bolted back up on the roof feeling a little simpler and lighter

Now for the genius part (obviously not my genius, I stole this idea straight from the T4R guy). The sunroof glass has a metal bracket with two pieces that run front to back on the side. The roof of the GX is folded in on the sides of the sunroof hole to form two nice, parallel sections of sheet metal that act as the mounting points. Using the 4 inner rectangular holes (not the ones you f***ed with to try and adjust the height), you can bolt the sunroof glass directly to the roof:

Hold the glass in its native position, mark the location of your drill holes and make some sort of spacer. I had some tiny square steel tubing laying around to cut into 2" (rear) and 1-5/8" (front) spacers.

Once the glass was bolted up I put the original track back in. To me it serves two important purposes: It holds the sliding shade and bolts for the center overhead light. The T4R guys just put a non-sunroof headliner in but we don't have that option, so might as well have a skylight! Of course if you don't want your skylight to leak, you either need to keep the whole drain setup or just seal the sunroof glass. I opted for sealing because I wanted simplicity, less parts, etc.

This week I put the headliner back on, so stay tuned!
 
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That must have been some pretty serious sunroof rattle......:D
 
Awesome write-up! I have been wanting to drop my headliner to repair a couple of dents in the roof, but I was hesitant because I didn't know what I'd run into. Thank you so much for laying it all out.
 
if I ever had a reason to repaint my roof, I would be tempted to have the sunroof filled in entirely. It's really too bad we don't have a non-sunroof headliner option, though I bet an interior upholstery shop could convert it easily enough.
 
This is very good step by step instruction. Thank you very much for documenting this.
 
Thanks all! I've been driving the truck around without the headliner or interior panels to make sure nothing else is loose, and so far so good! The silicone seal around the glass passed the garden hose test, but we'll see how it does for real this winter.

Bluetribal - the dynamat looks cool! My primary concern was adding some thermal insulation over sound (winter camping), so I bought a roll of reflectix to layer up there. The Dynamat stuff looks a little easier though. I'll have an update on a few days on putting everything back together including the reflectix.
 
@James C This is really awesome step-by-step photos! Thank you.

THis should probably go into some Archive site like lexusgxor. [ @Vlad: how can we do this? ]
Beause I have noticed that ih8mud seems to delete photos in some threads.
 
So help me understand here you took the headliner out and the sunroof and silicone the new glass up there, all because of a rattle ,it's a freaking rattle how hard could it have been, I don't know I don't get it I would have just fixed the rattle I drive an 80 and my wife drives a GX470 if I ever have a rattle in the sunroof I'm going to just fix the rattle have a good day
 
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@James C This is really awesome step-by-step photos! Thank you.

THis should probably go into some Archive site like lexusgxor. [ @Vlad: how can we do this? ]
Beause I have noticed that ih8mud seems to delete photos in some threads.
Just create an account. Create a page, add content. Done.
 
So help me understand here you took the headliner out and the sunroof and silicone the new glass up there, all because of a rattle ,it's a freaking rattle how hard could it have been, I don't know I don't get it I would have just fixed the rattle I drive an 80 and my wife drives a GX470 if I ever have a rattle in the sunroof I'm going to just fix the rattle have a good day

Seems sometimes the proper fix for the rattle is a new sunroof assembly at ~$2k. That's probably why.
 
Seems sometimes the proper fix for the rattle is a new sunroof assembly at ~$2k. That's probably why.
Maybe , but that vehicle just lost a huge amount in resale and insurance value. Long term no drain gutter means leaks.
 
it's a freaking rattle how hard could it have been, I don't know I don't get it I would have just fixed the rattle
That's the beautiful thing about opinions. You have one, and I have a different one.

Maybe , but that vehicle just lost a huge amount in resale and insurance value. Long term no drain gutter means leaks.

We bought this truck to modify into an adventure plaything, not as an investment. Sure, I'll have to keep an eye out for leaks but to me that's no big deal. I know this mod isn't for everyone (if anyone)!
 
Thanks! Yeah I know this is a strange "fix", but it's what we wanted! No hard feelings if you don't like it.
 
I'm contemplating a new OEM sunroof assembly because at this point it is a % of the total spend in my truck, and I am never selling it lol
 
people have time or money - typically not both at the same time :doh:
 
I'm contemplating a new OEM sunroof assembly because at this point it is a % of the total spend in my truck, and I am never selling it lol
Yeah I'd probably crap my pants if I knew the total $ you've put into your rig. Unforseen events aside, we're keeping ours for life too.
 

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