(Fixed!) Repairing the roof and replacing the antenna after you accidentally/violently rip it off with a garage door.

[Joejk3d]

I searched and there are a few threads on dropping the head liner for various things - I broke the damn antenna off the top of the truck (I was tired, the garage door wasnt opened all the way... you can guess the next bit)... I have a replacement in hand, but I need to get into the head liner to mount it.

Om my previous ford vehicles there were little snaps and such or velcro holding the head liner in place, and some needed specialized tools to remove. That the case with this?

The service manuals for this truck posted here dont have any head liner R&I documentation. (there are some big gaps in the service manual I am finding)

From what I gather, I need to remove the rear seatbelt mounts (t47 bolt?) and C Pillar covers (anything needed to remove these or tips?) and then the back of the head liner can drop I believe? I think I can do all the work through the sliding rear window on the cab from the bed to do the antenna install.

Anyone done this with a more concise list of tools or tips on this? Torque specs for the seatbelt mount?

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[AzScorpion]

There's a bunch of info on how to do it in this thread here. Tyler removed his headliner and painted it black.

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/diy-black-headliner-project.30165/

 

[Dr_Strangelove]

@AzScorpion - great minds think alike, I was looking for the same thread.

@tygr2007 - you owe us daylight pics! ?


You can find a pretty cheap trim removal kit on Amazon or any other similar online retailer. (Link.)

My only words of wisdom are be patient, don't force any clips, they can be stubborn, but it's better to skip a clip and make room on both sides of a stubborn one and apply even pressure, than to force from one side. Clips are cheap and easy to replace... But my experience is break too many and you'll curse yourself. Reference Tyler's thread for the correct replacement type! Might be a good idea to buy a kit of those as well...

 

[tygr2007]

@AzScorpion - great minds think alike, I was looking for the same thread.

@tygr2007 - you owe us daylight pics! ?


You can find a pretty cheap trim removal kit on Amazon or any other similar online retailer. (Link.)

My only words of wisdom are be patient, don't force any clips, they can be stubborn, but it's better to skip a clip and make room on both sides of a stubborn one and apply even pressure, than to force from one side. Clips are cheap and easy to replace... But my experience is break too many and you'll curse yourself. Reference Tyler's thread for the correct replacement type! Might be a good idea to buy a kit of those as well...

I’ll send some once my truck is out of the shop. Facing a $15,000 repair bill currently.

 

[Big Blue]

I’ll send some once my truck is out of the shop. Facing a $15,000 repair bill currently.

OUCH!!

 

[harringtondav]

I had a hail insurance job on my one year old Ranger. 100% paintless dent repair. It turned out perfect. I expressed concern to the shop manager about removing the headliner and the results. Also perfect. I think you will be fine.

 

[Racket]

I’ll send some once my truck is out of the shop. Facing a $15,000 repair bill currently.

IIRC you're a young dude with a heavily modified 2023 Tremor ($$$) a $15K repair bill is pretty severe. Is it related to the suspension issues?

 

[tygr2007]

IIRC you're a young dude with a heavily modified 2023 Tremor ($$$) a $15K repair bill is pretty severe. Is it related to the suspension issues?

Unfortunately, yes.

Front and rear differential needs a complete rebuild. The CV axel assembly is also in need of replacement, aswell as the front lower ball joints. To replace these, according to the dealer, the entire LCA needs to be replaced as the ball joint is not an individual part.

All of this should’ve been covered under warranty, however with the lift and oversized tires- the failure of many parts will not be covered. Luckily, with the purchase of the lift kit, I am currently in talks with Factory 560 Protection which is a power train warranty “insurance” provider. They work with BDS, Zone, and other large lift kit companies under the Sport Truck USA umbrella. They should be the ones paying the shop, if all things go correctly. They’re a big part of the reason I decided to put BDS on my truck.

Hopefully, if all goes well- I won’t have to pay a single dime. If it doesn’t, well- I’ll sell another kitchen!

 

[Murphie]

I searched and there are a few threads on dropping the head liner for various things - I broke the damn antenna off the top of the truck (I was tired, the garage door wasnt opened all the way... you can guess the next bit)... I have a replacement in hand, but I need to get into the head liner to mount it.

Om my previous ford vehicles there were little snaps and such or velcro holding the head liner in place, and some needed specialized tools to remove. That the case with this?

The service manuals for this truck posted here dont have any head liner R&I documentation. (there are some big gaps in the service manual I am finding)

From what I gather, I need to remove the rear seatbelt mounts (t47 bolt?) and C Pillar covers (anything needed to remove these or tips?) and then the back of the head liner can drop I believe? I think I can do all the work through the sliding rear window on the cab from the bed to do the antenna install.

Anyone done this with a more concise list of tools or tips on this? Torque specs for the seatbelt mount?

I did the same thing, ended up deforming the sheet metal around the mount. I would have been way out of my league on this, so I took it to a body shop to fix.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Unfortunately, yes.

Front and rear differential needs a complete rebuild. The CV axel assembly is also in need of replacement, aswell as the front lower ball joints. To replace these, according to the dealer, the entire LCA needs to be replaced as the ball joint is not an individual part.

All of this should’ve been covered under warranty, however with the lift and oversized tires- the failure of many parts will not be covered. Luckily, with the purchase of the lift kit, I am currently in talks with Factory 560 Protection which is a power train warranty “insurance” provider. They work with BDS, Zone, and other large lift kit companies under the Sport Truck USA umbrella. They should be the ones paying the shop, if all things go correctly. They’re a big part of the reason I decided to put BDS on my truck.

Hopefully, if all goes well- I won’t have to pay a single dime. If it doesn’t, well- I’ll sell another kitchen!

@AzScorpion is building a new place and I hear he needs a kitchen designed. You should send Annie a text message so it’s a big surprise for Dave. ?

 

[AzScorpion]

@AzScorpion is building a new place and I hear he needs a kitchen designed. You should send Annie a text message so it’s a big surprise for Dave. ?

Not a chance!

Plus we just finalized our kitchen design with the cabinet company last Tuesday and it was only $10,800.

 

[thndr8]

I did the exact same thing backing into my garage. The level of pissed off I had was off the charts. I dropped the headliner myself. Lots of clips just take your time. Disconnecting the visors was the worst. The only way to take out the headliner from the truck is to remove both front seats as well. So, instead I dropped the headliner leaving it inside the truck. Drove to the PDR shop with the front of the headliner resting on my head so they can pop out the dent from the garage door prying the antenna from the roof. Bought a new antenna just in case I damaged the old one. Didn't want to do this twice. There is a crush fastener on the antenna to keep it flush to the roof to prevent leaks but my roof wasn't flat anymore. PDR took out the dent and installed my antenna. I put everything else back together. PDR cost me $300. Antenna was $100.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

I did the exact same thing backing into my garage. The level of pissed off I had was off the charts. I dropped the headliner myself. Lots of clips just take your time. Disconnecting the visors was the worst. The only way to take out the headliner from the truck is to remove both front seats as well. So, instead I dropped the headliner leaving it inside the truck. Drove to the PDR shop with the front of the headliner resting on my head so they can pop out the dent from the garage door prying the antenna from the roof. Bought a new antenna just incase I damaged the old one. Didn't want to do this twice. There is a crush fastener on the antenna to keep it flush to the roof to prevent leaks but my roof wasn't flat anymore. PDR took out the dent and installed my antenna. I put everything else back together. PDR cost me $300. Antenna was $100.

I backed into the garage at my new place. I didn’t catch the antenna but the T-handle that releases the door from the opener caught the roof rack on my topper, the door lurched downward a bit (toward the hood of my Ranger) then stopped suddenly - as did I.

I got out to take a look. The knotted cord had pulled right through the T-handle and released the door from its latch. Somehow, the cord fell perfectly into the wide part of a t-slot on my roof rack - the area where you insert a t-nut, with the knot getting under and caught up further down the t-slot, stopping the door from continuing down onto my hood and fenders.

I’m not sure if I had some good karma coming my way or if I now owe a bunch but man, that was a close call.

 

[Joejk3d]

So update on this post since I just got this all repaired in my garage with minimal tools and expense.

Headliner:
So all I did was remove the rear seatbelt bolts, pulled the C Pillar trim back a bit, then carefully worked my hand under the back of the head liner to pop the 2 clips out that hold it there. If you just pull the headliner you'll rip them off the headliner itself.

Once that was done you can just look up through the window to the bed and can do the whole repair through the rear window while kneeling in the bed of the truck.

Roof damage:
This is what I was starting with:

Clearly the hole was pulled up, but the front was also dented down.
I bought a $49 bodywork tool kit (hammers and hand anvils) from Harbor Freight to remedy this. Now I should have heated up the paint a bit before I started hammering, but... I was busy, so a bit chipped off around the damage.

After some careful hammering on the top, and then rolling the rounded hammer head under the front to work it back level, I ended up with this in about 30 minutes:

I worked on the front a little more after this pic but it was really good for an amateur gorilla with a hammer!

I touched it up with some high end black 2-1 primer/paint touch up. Since its under the antenna, I went with the best paint I could find regardless of the color and my Saber Orange touch up paint pen is at my other place. $10 for some good touch up paint.

I then test fitted the antenna and made sure everything was as flat as I could get it. I put 2 thick beads of Permatex black RTV around the base of the antenna since there is a chance it wont seal like it used to. One around the inner compression seal ring, and one around the inside of the outer seal.

I pushed firmly down and held that while also screwing on the screw/clamp plate from underneath... this is the most finicky part of the whole deal. In the end there was a paper width gap on one of the back corners that likely was sealed from the RTV under the antenna, but to be safe I put a towel over it and a bag of rock I had in the bed on the back half of the antenna to hold it down while the RTV cured.

Then this morning - I took the rocks off, put the FM antenna back on, and doused it with water to make sure it was sealed.

I put the truck back together inside and the GPS/Sat radio/FM all work again and no leaks.

Total cost:
$60 Ebay part# matching antenna (there are a LOT of versions of this shark fin based on if you have Nav, Sat Radio, etc...)
$49 Harbor Freight body work tool set
$10 Touch up paint
$10 Permatex Black RTV
And about 2 hours total of work.

Also ordered a Stubby antenna for $35 that I'll get on when its in.

The worst part was working through the rear window with the head liner only partially pulled down in the back, made it a bit interesting trying to get a wrench on the antenna mount.

 

[Ranger_Rocks]

So update on this post since I just got this all repaired in my garage with minimal tools and expense.

Headliner:
So all I did was remove the rear seatbelt bolts, pulled the C Pillar trim back a bit, then carefully worked my hand under the back of the head liner to pop the 2 clips out that hold it there. If you just pull the headliner you'll rip them off the headliner itself.

Once that was done you can just look up through the window to the bed and can do the whole repair through the rear window while kneeling in the bed of the truck.

Roof damage:
This is what I was starting with:

Clearly the hole was pulled up, but the front was also dented down.
I bought a $49 bodywork tool kit (hammers and hand anvils) from Harbor Freight to remedy this. Now I should have heated up the paint a bit before I started hammering, but... I was busy, so a bit chipped off around the damage.

After some careful hammering on the top, and then rolling the rounded hammer head under the front to work it back level, I ended up with this in about 30 minutes:

I worked on the front a little more after this pic but it was really good for an amateur gorilla with a hammer!

I touched it up with some high end black 2-1 primer/paint touch up. Since its under the antenna, I went with the best paint I could find regardless of the color and my Saber Orange touch up paint pen is at my other place. $10 for some good touch up paint.

I then test fitted the antenna and made sure everything was as flat as I could get it. I put 2 thick beads of Permatex black RTV around the base of the antenna since there is a chance it wont seal like it used to. One around the inner compression seal ring, and one around the inside of the outer seal.

I pushed firmly down and held that while also screwing on the screw/clamp plate from underneath... this is the most finicky part of the whole deal. In the end there was a paper width gap on one of the back corners that likely was sealed from the RTV under the antenna, but to be safe I put a towel over it and a bag of rock I had in the bed on the back half of the antenna to hold it down while the RTV cured.

Then this morning - I took the rocks off, put the FM antenna back on, and doused it with water to make sure it was sealed.

I put the truck back together inside and the GPS/Sat radio/FM all work again and no leaks.

Total cost:
$60 Ebay part# matching antenna (there are a LOT of versions of this shark fin based on if you have Nav, Sat Radio, etc...)
$49 Harbor Freight body work tool set
$10 Touch up paint
$10 Permatex Black RTV
And about 2 hours total of work.

Also ordered a Stubby antenna for $35 that I'll get on when its in.

The worst part was working through the rear window with the head liner only partially pulled down in the back, made it a bit interesting trying to get a wrench on the antenna mount.

Thanks for the awesome writeup!

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