Toyota Tacoma Door Panel Removal, Break Down And Recovering
| Now, in a controlled, well ventilated area, spray your penal board with 3M Super 77 (or higher, ie 90). Lay down your foam or batting on top of the board and firmyl secure it. It should be immediately stuck and secure. Now you'll want to trim the excess foam or batting by cutting with scissors along the edges of the board. | |
| Time to cut your first fabric. Position the gray stock fabric piece (the one where the window crank and handle were) on top of the fabric you selected to replace the stock one. I chose gray velour. Again, as with the foam, cut out the shape of the fabric, but give a little to make sure you can secure it firmly to the back of the board. | |
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Again, in a well ventilated area, spray the back of your fabric, and firmly press it down on top of the foam. Then, flip your board over, spray the edges of the board and the fabric, and then fold the fabric over the edges of the board and secure them to the back. The fabric will probably stick very quickly with the 3M stuff and your hands are gonna get all glue-y.
*If you want, to secure even better, use short, strong staples (ones that won't go all the way through) and staple the fabric on the back. Another way us to use run it through a sewing machine so the fabric is sewn into the panel. |
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Don't worry about your bottom edge not being straight on the front. It can be as jagged as you want because it will be being covered by your other fabric. |
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Now take the stock vinyl from the bottom portion of the panel and use it as a template to cut your other material. I went with red leather. As always, be sure to leave extra around the edges so you can secure it to the back. |
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This is one of the tricky parts. You need to create a rather straight, smooth seem at the top. I used the stock piece to draw a outline on the back of the leather so I could see the shape of what need to be made. You'll need to spray the back of the fabric, and fold it over and glue it to itself. The glue may have to sit a second before attempting or it won't stick. Another option would to use a similar color thread and use a sewing machine to sew the seem tight and straight. |
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Once that is nice and dry and not coming apart, it's time to lay it on the door panel and glue it down. As always, in your ventilated area, spray back of the folded seem well with the glue, continue to spray the rest of the back of the leather. Then lay it down on top of the panel, just overlapping the gray area by maybe 1/8" to 1/4" and firmly press down to secure it. Now it's time to flip it over and do the back. |
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Hopefully you had plenty of extra on the edges to streatch tight and fold over the back of the panel. Spray the glue on the panel and give it your damndest to streatch out the ripples and keep creases from forming on the corners and curved edges. It should now look similar to this.
* It may be a good idea, when dealing with a thicker material like leather, to staple down the material near corners and edges along the back to keep warm weather from releasing the glue. |
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Near the end now. You'll need to strip the vinyl material from the door armrest. It just takes peeling up the corners on the inside and skinning the thing. Try and leave the foam underneath in place. It's good foam, no need to ruin! |
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Use that just removed vinyl to get a good idea of the size of leather you'll need to cut. After that, place the armrest on top of the your material with the backside facing up. You'll notice the 6 tabs there, they should punch right through your leather or other material with a little force. (Look close at the picture, the black arrows point to the tabs.) |
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Now, glue the metal on the backside (don't spray glue on the foam area) and tightly pull from both sides and glue to the back of the armrest. This piece can be a little difficult, but take your time so secure all the way around and make clean edges.
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| When that is ready and dry, replace the door lock hole (you'll need to punch a hole for it in the leather) and also put the black window seal back on. Again, the tabs on the window seal should punch right through your fabric with a little force. | |
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Now you should replace the plastic door pocket/speaker grill piece. Line it up with the holes in the back and drive the screws through. If you used batting instead of foam, this will be a huge pain because the batting will curl all over the screw before it gets through and could brake the areas the screw need to enter. So be careful. You may need to back out the screw and with a Leatherman, or Gerber tool, pick ou the material before proceeding. When that is firmly secure with the 7 screws, it should look something like this. |
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Last major step. You need to re-attach the top armrest to the door panel. The 6 tabs you punched through the armrest now need to lineup and be pushed through the slots on the door panel. These may be covered up now by the first fabric you layed down, so just push them through, and bend them over the back of the panel to secure. |
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Replace all the little white plastic clips (12 of them) to their homes on the back of the panel and you should now have it ready to put back on your truck. Go outside, and just reverse the steps for taking the panel off for putting it back on. You're new door panel looks great! Good job! |
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Last Modified April 4, 2005 |
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