Headliner replacement

[SideStepper]

My 96 2 door pickup with extended cab needs the headliner replaced. I am considering doing this myself only because I cannot find shop available & with experience to get it done. Any advice is appreciated.

[Palf70Step]

Wish I could help. Have always had a local shop redo mine. I have torn them out, but that is the extent of my knowledge. Hopefully someone else will chime in for you.

[speedygonzales]

It's easy to do. I did mine several years ago using grey leather. Here is the major problem.

The base "board" is not solid. It's more like a loofa sponge. It's like it's woven with gaps in it. Google what a loofa sponge looks like if you have to.

So I used contact cement on both materials and gave it time to dry and for a few months all was good. But in some areas that had depressions like above the sun visors, it drooped.

I think what kept the old cloth to adhere to all the contours was it had foam between the base board and the cloth. You must remove the old foam before proceeding. I used a very fine wire wheel in my drill.

You might want to google ways to deal with the "gappy" base board. call around to different upholstery shops. Maybe consider putting a good quality very thin closed cell foam on before your final material.

If I had it to do over, I would have put a thin closed cell foam first and then my leather. The foam has to be thin to adhere and show the contours well.

Good luck to you.

[Boog]

You might want to do this just for the experience, I don't know. I had a local upholstery shop replace the one in my GMC crew cab 2 years ago for $200. I thought that was a bargain since they wanted $400 to do our 91 Cadillac a couple years before.

[Just call me Sean]

I've done a few. One was somewhat more porous than the others, and slightly damaged so I coated it with air conditioner duct sealant and let it dry. It made it heavier but it wasn't an issue. I also used a heavy thick plush fabric so I used floor tile adhesive to stick it. The first half I let the glue dry then pressed the fabric on, the second half I put the fabric directly on the wet glue making sure it wouldn't ooze through first. Later the dry stuck side fell but the wet side didn't. For the others I used the spray adhesive with the same result. Letting it dry as recommended it falls later, but sticking it wet it has stayed up.

This is the last one I did, my S10:

[SideStepper]

Thanks, guys, for your input. It sounds like repairing your old/original sagging headliner is a serious task. Purchasing a new aftermarket replacement headliner sounds more of an interest to me. Unfortunately, a web search found most plastic/cardboard "like replacement" liners at an very expensive $350 (+ O/S shipping cost) & then you have the installation labor to deal with.
There has got to BETTER WAY, how about spraying your inter roof (& the entire cab) with Rhino-liner like they Jeep guys do!

[special-K]

I figured you might be asking about the replacement headliners. Damn that's expensive. That's more than anyone with much sense would spend on an old driver. I guess on a cherry toy or for a restoration some would spend that. When I had my '92 the headliner was starting to sag. I was going to buy one that had a molded plastic backer. But dang $350 is nuts. What would a Suburban headliner cost??

[TKCR]

They are not bad to do. I’ve done several in different types of vehicles. I just watched a couple of YouTube videos. Here are some that I have done. The trick is patience and getting all the old cleaned off. And only do sections at a time, or half. And then the other half. Don’t try and do the whole headliner fabric at once.

[TKCR]

This was a Civic with a sunroof, and I also did the visors.

[TKCR]

And this one was my Dad’s Jaguar.
This is the spray glue I used on all of them.

[Boog]

Removing the headliner from a standard cab truck should be easy enough. Removing one from a 4 door crew cab or 4 door car could be a real puzzle due to the size of the 1 piece headliner.
I saw a vid a few years ago of a guy doing his own on a large 4 door sedan and he couldn't figure out how to get it out in one piece so he cut it in half, cut it from one side to the other to get it out. He then recovered each half and put the two sections back in the car like that. He was proud enough of it that he posted his vid on you tube.

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Boog

Removing the headliner from a standard cab truck should be easy enough. Removing one from a 4 door crew cab or 4 door car could be a real puzzle due to the size of the 1 piece headliner.
I saw a vid a few years ago of a guy doing his own on a large 4 door sedan and he couldn't figure out how to get it out in one piece so he cut it in half, cut it from one side to the other to get it out. He then recovered each half and put the two sections back in the car like that. He was proud enough of it that he posted his vid on you tube.

Oh my! Yeah there is a trick to it. I worked at Honda Mfg. in the repair Dept, so I had to replace headliners quite often. They would get damaged out on the assembly line. All it took was a slip of the gun, when someone was installing the sun visors. The tip would put a hole in the headliner. All the seats would have to lay down, and then the headliner would have to be tilted just so and go out the rear door opening at an angle.

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by TKCR

Oh my! Yeah there is a trick to it. I worked at Honda Mfg. in the repair Dept, so I had to replace headliners quite often. They would get damaged out on the assembly line. All it took was a slip of the gun, when someone was installing the sun visors. The tip would put a hole in the headliner. All the seats would have to lay down, and then the headliner would have to be tilted just so and go out the rear door opening at an angle.

Ah, that makes sense. I thought maybe you would have to pull the seats.

[Gunner41]

I did my crew cab last summer. There are enough videos that you can watch but it really comes down to you just jumping in and do it. I pulled my R/F seat out after leaning all the plastic out of the way. If you had another set of hands that would be great. A lot of pics helps too. I also invested in one of those little light fold out stands. I used a wire wheel to get most of the backing off BUT be carful with the board. Yes they flex a bit and I made some gashes for which I used a fiberglass and resin to fill. It doesn't look bad. First time and a crewcab with nobody to help. Yeah you got this. Oh one more thing. Get two cans of adhesive (to be safe). Ask me how I know. JK. Oh dont forget your visors. You will enjoy that one if you dont have mirrors. Good luck you got this.

[Grumpy old man]

all glued ( no seam) headliners come out of the passenger door , tilt steering wheel up / recline front seats . You only want to remove the material and the thin layer of dead foam and clean BY HAND using a soft bristle brush , don't peel off the liner under the foam or you will have bumps and ridges it's ment to stay in place as it's the smooth layer you'll be gluing the new material to . take note some are wrapped around the end of the board so you'll want to leave enough material to replace it when trimming .

[Just call me Sean]

The headliner board is the same material as AC duct which is why I used duct sealant to repair and smooth it.