Headliner bites the dust - options?
 

Finally got sick of the sagging droop of a liner blowing in the wind and jerked the whole dang thing out (I discovered that a club cab liner won't fit out the doors...). [verymad]

Now I have a naked cab top. Thats cool but doesn't blend well with my swanky for '92 interior. plus I'd like the extra insulating value.

So what are the options out there? I could repair the fiber board liner that was there and attach another skin...only to have it fail later down the road [duhhh] .

What have you guys done that was successful? Or are we on our own here?

Sorry but our options are few, leave it out or replace it, i paid 75 to get mine redone.

I put a new headliner in my Dakota not that long ago and it turned out good. There is a Co. on fleabay called SMS headliners that sells the fabric for around $35 with shipping (give or take a few $). The only thing you have to do is clean the old board up with a wire brush to get the glue off and get the spray adhesive that they suggest and it's a snap. I did have a couple of cracks in the board and what I did was I put 200mph tape on the back side of it to help make it stiffer. I will be ordering one for my CTD truck soon.
Hope this helps you. Ryan

Don't feel bad mine is coming down too:(

being from a climate that is tough on headliners...(281 days rain / yr...) and having a litter of VW rabbits with interior leaks... + 2 CTDs drooping

heres two options I've done.

1) if cardboard / foamboard form is ok, remove and use a 'light' hand powered wire brush (the brass ones for pans,,,) and scrub off the foam, buy headliner fabric at any decent sized fabric store, or auto upholsery supplier (~ $15) then use 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. Lay on fabric with 2 people work from center out, might use some 'suspension' rods like doing formica. Once it touches; Its not going anywhere... avoid wrinkles and stretching too far, but it is pretty ez.

2) Do a vinyl headliner like the '60's. I use stiff wire (like TIG welding rod) to span the cab (Left to right) every 10" and sew loops into the backside of vinyl material to stick rods through. This is really nice, and will last forever?? corners are a pain, (must pleat ) and it is nice to have your windows out (windshield and rear). tho I've done this with them in. Cost is similar, there are usually 3 varieties of material (texture - tanned cowhide > rough alligator[redface] ) and a zillion colors.

But first... find the leaks, I'm still hunting mine, and have fixed the cowl, but still leaking.[verymad]

If it won't fit out the door, how did they get it in the door?

It'll fit.....Juuuuust barely, if you turn it right. ;)
You might need to pull the seat.

I did the one in my mother's '86 Aries 4 dr a couple of years ago.
I bought the fabric at Pep Boys for ~ 30 bucks, and a can of spray glue for ~$5.
It took about 3 hours start to finish, and looked factory. :D


http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/ab_int...271329,00.html

They put it in before the windshiel & rear window probably. :-(

I took mine to a local upholstery shop. They matched the grey and put in a new board & fabric for $75.

Looks great.

Regards, DBF

Might fit easier out the door if you pull the seat on one side.

Mine started to sag this winter. There is a local shop that does it. I would rather pay them than mess with it myself I think.

Local shop replaced mine....same one that did loch's. He only charged me $50 bucks to put a new one in.......:) Guess he thought i was cuter....[laugh]

I've redone a few headliners myself and it is pretty cheap and easy. If the cardboard backing stuff is still alright try to clean it up as much as possible and get all of the old glue and fabric crap off and then go to any fabric shop, they usually carry head liner material in many different colors. I usually use jo ann's around here but I would assume any big fabric store would carry it. Most any auto parts stores carry the 3M spray glue and I think even walmart carries it. Trim the fabric to a rough fit of the headliner board and then spray the back side of the fabric and the headliner board with the glue and let it set for a few minutes to tack up, once it is tacky lay the fabric over the board and smooth it out working from one corner to the opposite corner. Make sure the glue is tacky before putting the fabric on or it will bleed through. Once everything is smoothed out trim the fabric to an exact fit...or pretty close...since trim covers most of the edges and make the cut outs in the fabric for the light and sun visors and what ever else may attach through the headliner and then install the new headliner back in the cab. The headliner material usually runs about 10 bucks a yard and is usually wide enough for the width of the cab and I think that 1 yard of material usually will do a standard cab truck and I think the 3M glue is like 4 or 5 bucks a can which will be more then enough to do the headliner. Also, the headliner material stuff works great to cover things such as custom consoles and speaker boxers, etc. This is what I have always done in the past and it seems to work great and it is pretty cheep compared to having a shop fix it or buying a new headliner.

I ended up removing mine and installing a layer of 1/2" thick RubaTex rubber insulation directly to the roof sheet metal. It can be purchased in different thicknesses in 4'x3' sheets (generally from 1/4" to 3/4"). Regular rubber based contact adhesive works very well.

In my case, it has greatly reduced the road noise through the roof as well as improved the cab temperature control.

If need be later, I can still cover it with regular ceiling fabric. Right now, it's just black.

I like it! :D

funny? headliner sagging
 

The headliner in my 91 looked pretty good until a little furry critter decided to use my truck for living quarters. The corners gave way but the best part was the dome light that was half filled with corn. I stuck a few of those buttons in the headliner and left the corn which shows up nicely when the light is on!