Introduction: 2000 Jeep Cherokee Headliner Repair
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About: Taking things apart and finding new ways to put them together. Canoeing , hiking, and just being out in nature. Beer!
I recently got tired of the headliner in my Jeep touching my head while driving, so I decided that I should be able to repair it. I went to our local fabric store and decided on a dark gray fleece fabric. I chose fleece because it's thick and stretchable. The tools required are pretty common except for the star bits used on the screws to hold the o'shit handles and the seat-belt strap mount in.
I used:
Flathead screw driver
Phillips-head screw driver
Socket Wrench
Scissors
Box cutter
Scrub Brush
First I unscrewed the visors and removed the dome lights. Then I removed all of the handles, seat-belt mounts, and ceiling mounted speakers using the Star bits. Starting from the back hatch and working to the front of the vehicle I removed the top moldings. Some of the plastic molding is held in placed with metal clips that are real difficult to remove. I ended up breaking about half of them. I used an epoxy to glue the clips back into place and they are holding up real nice. The plastic molding that attaches to the A pillar doesn't have to be completely removed, just enough so the headliner can slide out the back. After everything was out of the way the headliner was loose and almost ready to fall out. The only thing holding it in were four plastic tabs and I just had to gently pry the headliner past them. Once one side of it was past the plastic pieces the headliner was free and came right out.
Next I peeled the existing cloth off of the headliner, and using the plastic scrubber I scrubbed all of the dried out foam off of it. This was the longest step in the process. It wasn't exactly difficult, just tedious.
After it was nice and clean I draped my fabric over it and stretched out all the wrinkles. Then neatly folded it back from my starting edge. I did the next part in sections so the fabric would not bunch up. I coated the headliner with spray adhesive per the instructions. Real thick on both the headliner and fabric. It could be helpful to have someone else help you unfold the cloth because it sticks fast. Using my hand I rubbed the fabric into all the creases and curves of the headliner being careful to work my way from the center to the edges as to not create any wrinkles or bubbles. Then just repeated this over and over until the headliner was completely covered.
Now its time to cut the holes into the fabric for all the screws, speakers and lights. Using a razor from a box cutter I had I cut a slit in the fabric big enough to work my scissors in. Working my way around the headliner I cut out all the holes. I cut all the excess fabric from the edges and use the left over glue to tuck the fabric to the underside so the edges was hidden.
Time for the re-assembly, yay! I Just had to do everything I did to remove the headliner in reverse order to put it back in. The very last thing to do now is take it for a test drive. I went for ice cream. I enjoyed both the ice cream, and my awesomely new not falling down headliner. Hope this helps anyone out there thinking of tackling this project. All together this took me about four and a half hours. Good luck.
I used:
Flathead screw driver
Phillips-head screw driver
Socket Wrench
Scissors
Box cutter
Scrub Brush
First I unscrewed the visors and removed the dome lights. Then I removed all of the handles, seat-belt mounts, and ceiling mounted speakers using the Star bits. Starting from the back hatch and working to the front of the vehicle I removed the top moldings. Some of the plastic molding is held in placed with metal clips that are real difficult to remove. I ended up breaking about half of them. I used an epoxy to glue the clips back into place and they are holding up real nice. The plastic molding that attaches to the A pillar doesn't have to be completely removed, just enough so the headliner can slide out the back. After everything was out of the way the headliner was loose and almost ready to fall out. The only thing holding it in were four plastic tabs and I just had to gently pry the headliner past them. Once one side of it was past the plastic pieces the headliner was free and came right out.
Next I peeled the existing cloth off of the headliner, and using the plastic scrubber I scrubbed all of the dried out foam off of it. This was the longest step in the process. It wasn't exactly difficult, just tedious.
After it was nice and clean I draped my fabric over it and stretched out all the wrinkles. Then neatly folded it back from my starting edge. I did the next part in sections so the fabric would not bunch up. I coated the headliner with spray adhesive per the instructions. Real thick on both the headliner and fabric. It could be helpful to have someone else help you unfold the cloth because it sticks fast. Using my hand I rubbed the fabric into all the creases and curves of the headliner being careful to work my way from the center to the edges as to not create any wrinkles or bubbles. Then just repeated this over and over until the headliner was completely covered.
Now its time to cut the holes into the fabric for all the screws, speakers and lights. Using a razor from a box cutter I had I cut a slit in the fabric big enough to work my scissors in. Working my way around the headliner I cut out all the holes. I cut all the excess fabric from the edges and use the left over glue to tuck the fabric to the underside so the edges was hidden.
Time for the re-assembly, yay! I Just had to do everything I did to remove the headliner in reverse order to put it back in. The very last thing to do now is take it for a test drive. I went for ice cream. I enjoyed both the ice cream, and my awesomely new not falling down headliner. Hope this helps anyone out there thinking of tackling this project. All together this took me about four and a half hours. Good luck.