I've been searching and found only info relating to 2nd gen. Can anyone tell me what is involved with removing the license plate trim on the 3rd gen liftgate, please?

Thanks!

 

what trim?

 

On 96-2000, it's graphite gray and houses the license plate lamps and window lock cylinder. On 2000-2002, chrome was an option. I'm not chroming mine. Instead, I'm painting it to match everything else. Or maybe fluorescent green.

 

Yeah same here that gray sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

remove your tag first...

then, open the rear gate and use a flat screwdriver to pry off the cover for the pull-down handle. take a 10mm socket and remove the handle. take the screwdriver and gently pry out the bottom edge of the plastic trim. it's on there using the pop-thingys like a door has. once you get all the bottom and side snaps released, then slide it up towards the glass like you do on a side door to take it off.

now use that 10mm socket to remove that large panel that's covering the window mechanism.

after that, you remove the 4 bolts/nuts that are attaching the window mechanism to the door. you remove it so you can slide it around and get to the nuts holding the tag surround in.

next, you remove the 3 or 4 nuts/bolts that hold the tag surround on. i think there's also some clips for it and a wiring harness for the lights. there's also the latch linkage that you'll need to pop off the mechanism.

once that's loose, it should come right off.

it has a hard plastic "gasket" around it kind-of like the fender flares on the limiteds. however, this gasket is hard and can be painted to match.

it's easy to do once you take it apart and see how things are held together.

now, to pay your dues for me helping you with this, you'll need to take pics along the way and document exactly what you do and then post them as a write-up so you can help the next guy...

 

damm Andy that hard dues to mak'em pay......heh hehe

 

Where'd you find the info for the 2nd gen

 

I had a local body shop remove mine and paint it and when I picked it up, they were kind of pissed because they were low on their time estimate and he said that "I got lucky" because their estimate didn't account for all the time it took them to get it off. Guess I got lucky. It turned out great.

Matt

 

that's funny b/c the first time i took mine off was to paint it and it took me maybe 20 min to get it off and about 7 or 8 to put it back on.

they don't know what the hell they're doing w/ a socket if it took them more than an hour total to pull and reinstall...

 

Is the technical name for this "license plate trim" or is it "license plate molding?" I'm removing mine as well and will try and document it.

Also, the dealership charges something like $200 for this new, is there an aftermarket piece available? If so does that have a part name or part number? (3rd gen 4runner)

 

Toyodiy.com has it as :76811A GARNISH, BACK DOOR, OUTSIDE 76801‑35260.

Toyota Partszone has it as:GARNISH SUB-ASSY, BA Part NO.: 76801-35260

for $160. Linky

You don't say what year; this fits my '99 and all '99-'01.

 

Junk yard. If you're near Denver start with the Jim's Used Toyota Truck Parts or the Yota Yard.

 

Probably easier to mask it and paint it without removing it, shouldn't be difficult.

 

Thanks! The part numbers were very helpful! This was exactly what I needed! Jims yota yard is a great resource! I will post up what I end up doing...

 

Nice! Mine
Is trashed so write it up please, pulled a
Chair.

 

Don't get too comfortable, this won't be anything all that exciting...

I needed to remove mine because of the dent (I was afraid of water getting in) as well as remount the lock. (And I thought I could do this on my own)


Take off the hatch strap. It's held on by one bolt- 10mm



Pry off plastic trim. I found it easy enough to pry it away with my finger tips going all the way around the trim just pulling it off as much as I could. After I did this 2 or 3 times I found a spot that I could get under the trim and pop off the clip thing. (just a little bit at a time)

I haven't done much with trim so here's a close up of the clip thing. (to get an idea of what you are trying to work with)


After the trim is off, you are left with this:


From here it is pretty straightforward to see what to do next. Remove bolts- 10mm. Remove wiring harnesses as needed. Expose the inside of the hatch to find the back of the molding fasteners.

I will get more pics up when I pull it all apart for the third time....

 

I broke this up into 2 replies because the 2nd part is my own stupidity!

I took the advice of one of the previous posts and took it into a shop after I had exposed the inside of the hatch. I figured that the license plate molding can be quite expensive to replace, and I didn't want to mess up any of its fasteners. At that point the shop should take 5 minutes or so, pop the thing off (not having to remove any bolts and trim, since I already did that) and no problems, right?!

$35 later and a half hour of labor fees, they did what I expected. They took the part off with no problems, as I expected....but a half hour, really?!?! They said that it required special tools. Yeah, I looked up trim pulling tools on autozone, and those are nothing special. They probably took only 5 minutes to take it off and then went out to lunch.

Just goes to show you, DIY. I got scared of breaking brittle plastic pieces (as I should), but I could have bought the trim puller kit myself and saved some $$. Not to mention, I could have probably found piece used and saved some time as well...

Now I have to reseat the lock and repaint the trim... Oh well, live and learn.

 

pics?

 

Beware for some reason it is really hard to get that plate surround to take paint. We tried sanding, etching primer, more sanding and it keep resisting the paint.

 

Old thread, but wanted to post here in case anyone else has the same issue.

While replacing by license plate surround, everything went great until I tried to reassemble the window motor assembly. I had removed those 4 bolts with the window all the way up to give myself a bit more room to work, but now I can not get enough slack to realign any of the bolts. Any advice on how to get this back together?