How-To: Removing Dodge Dakota headliner - DONE!

[goodfellow]

This headliner was on its last legs. While driving over to a storage unit that I have, the entire front section of the headliner dropped down. I didn't know it at the time, but Dodge trucks are notorious for this issue. The foam totally disintegrates and the resulting crumbles accumulate in the liner. That said, after 18 years of good service, the truck is due for a new one.

This is a how-to for a 2003 Dakota, but since many of the fasteners, hangers, and hardware are also found on other models, it may prove useful for other Dodge models of the period.

Since the doors are fully open during this entire process, the first thing to do is disconnect the NEG battery terminal. Then it's just a matter of picking a starting point and working myself sequentially around the interior. I chose the passenger sun visor.

The visor is secured with two Phillips screws, and the visor clip itself serves two purposes; one as a snap-in rest to secure the visor, but also the clip serves as a primary hold down for the front of the headliner.

Visor base -- two Phillips screws:


Visor rest clip: the clip is made up of two pieces (an outer and an inner). The outer part of the clip has to be separated from the inner by pulling it forward. It takes a good grip to do that -- sometimes a wide screwdriver blade will help in leveraging the outer portion away from the inner. Once the outer portion is pulled forward, the inner will pull readily out and release the headliner at that location.







Next comes the courtesy assist handle on the "A" pillar -- an upper and lower cover a pried out with a pocket screw driver, to reveal the two T30 bolts that secure the handle.





Next come the seat belt anchors -- my Dakota extended cab has front and rear belt anchors. The anchor bolts are T47, but to get at the anchors, the anchor covers need to be removed. This is probably the trickiest part of the job because these covers are secured using the flimsiest of clips. Any significant prying with even a pocket screwdriver will break the clip. Best to use a small pair of needle nose pliers and gently squeeze the clips from underneath at first to loosen them, and then use a small screwdriver to pry the clips loose. I had to do this squeeze and pry dance several times before the covers came off.

This is the clip body you have to gently squeeze at first (from underneath) to get them to move. --- Bad design, and most people usually break a few along the way. I got lucky.



....eventually the clips release and the cover comes off.



T47 bolts -- small one secures the front seat belt, while the large one secures the rear.







Next comes the garment hook -- use a pocket screwdriver to open the cover to reveal one T25 screw





Next up the interior light -- use the pocket screwdriver to pry the lens out of the body (pry from the right side) . Then remove plug by inserting a pocket screwdriver between the holding tab to release it.









The rear of the headliner is secured by two large and long plugs -- You can use a larger screwdriver to release them from the sockets, but to pull them out entirely I needed a lot of leverage. I guess I could have used pliers, but decided to use fender clip pliers to get them away from the liner, and then a body fastener reverse hook tool to get the leverage; that worked great!





Now I was able to remove the rear side panel to uncover and release the rear part of the headliner, but first I had to pull of the seat belt height adjustment knob. Then simply grabbing the rear side panel by the "B" pillar seam, a quick yank pulled all the clips free.





The passenger "A" pillar cover came next -- It doesn't have to removed completely. Only the top is released from the clips to get enough clearance for the headliner to drop free. A plastic body panel tool helped in prying the cover away from the clips, but a larger flat blade screwdriver would do just as well.



Lastly, and just to be safe, I removed the rear view mirror. A T25 screw hold it to the windshield mount.



Done with the passenger side!

I performed the same procedure for the driver's side, and the liner shell dropped right down. With the seats moved all the way rearward and in full recline, the liner was pulled out on the passenger side with out much difficulty. I got a little careless and put a small tear in the lip of the shell. Nothing some two-part epoxy can't cure.



The old headliner foam was mostly crumbled trash, but some of the foam from the padding was still stuck to the shell. A wire brush on a die grinder took care of that in less than 30 minutes.



A cup wire brush on a drill motor would have done the same thing. Now the shell is clean, and I ordered new liner material and high temperature spray glue this afternoon. This 2 hour job saved a ton of money.

[fatfillup]

Great job Ray!!

Easy to see you are staying busy in retirement

we had an old mini van with a head liner droop.  I just put a bunch of staples in it to keep it up.  worked till it went to the junk yard

[goodfellow]

Great job Ray!!

Easy to see you are staying busy in retirement

we had an old mini van with a head liner droop.  I just put a bunch of staples in it to keep it up.  worked till it went to the junk yard

Thanks Phil -


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[muddy]

Yep wasn't only the pickups. I'm honestly surprised my Plymouth hasn't started sagging. The mid 90s dodge trucks dashes would crack and fall into peices after years in the sun.

Good job Ray!

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[slip knot]

Nice job, the hardest part is getting it out. my 98 dodge farm truck headliner started sagging on me about 5yrs ago. it got to rubbing on the top of my head one day, So I pulled into a gas station and commenced to pulling the fabric off. One of these days I might pull the cardboard down and put something back up...maybe.

[Lookin4_67GalaxieConv]

Great job Ray!!

Easy to see you are staying busy in retirement

we had an old mini van with a head liner droop.  I just put a bunch of staples in it to keep it up.  worked till it went to the junk yard

That's the economy method!   

[goodfellow]

I finished this headliner this afternoon. This is the first time that I've tried a headliner glue-up myself. I used this fine gent's YouTube video as my guide, and it worked very well. Headliner Magic is also the company that I ordered my materials from. They were reasonably priced, and they shipped to my door in three days. The kit came with the fabric and one can of HIGH HEAT adhesive (I ordered a second can just to be on the safe side, but I didn't need it).

HIGH HEAT adhesive is the only way to ensure a lasting job because other trim adhesives will let go when the sun beats down on your roof. Can't say enough about how much this video helped in adhering the liner to the shell.

First think i did was sand the three crack repair sections on the shell with some 120 grit paper to ensure a smooth adhesion.







Next I laid out and centered my material on the shell, and per the instructional video, proceeded to glue the liner material in the center section of the shell only. Once that's done, the adjacent sections are glued in turn.





Once the center was anchored in place, the left and right hand sides were sprayed and glued. Clean hands and careful stretching of the material ensured a good bond.



Next, I trimmed the material to leave about a 1" to 1.5" lip and flipped the shell over. I sprayed the lip material with adhesive and proceeded to secure the edges into the shell. Again -- clean hands are a must, or the glue from my finders would get transferred onto the liner when smoothing everything out.



When everything was glued up, and to ease getting the liner shell back into the cab, I pulled the passenger seat to make it easier to position the shell without causing and more kinks or cracks in the shell or the liner material. Installation took about 2 hours and I worked from the rear on forward.

I'm quite pleased with the outcome. I only had a very small wrinkle on the drivers side rear, but unless you're looking for it, it's not noticeable.

BTW -- that "spot" in the pic is just some water that was used to clean up a very small smudge of dirt that got caught in the liner during the install. It dried without a hitch and the smudge of dirt was gone.



It looks great, and thanks to the video, I was able to avoid a lot of typical beginner mistakes. Kudos to the folks at Headliner Magic -- Thank you for the great service and the wonderful installation instructions. I'm back in business with this truck -- no more liners falling on my head.