Headliner install

[jpwuertz]

Will I need to replace the rear window rubber to get the cab back panel installed. The rubber on my B3B is original and is as hard as a rock.

Jim W

[Reg Evans]

Same problem here Jim on my corner windows. One of these days I'll order some new rubber from Steele.

[jpwuertz]

I thought that that would be the answer. My B3B is a 3 window and the rear window panel is one piece. The rubber will have to be pryed up and the panel slipped under it.

[pflaming]

What other material(s) besides this 'cardboard' type of material, for the interiors on truck cabs? I realize this is the original way but other ideas would be appreciated.

[Merle Coggins]

Try Quite Ride Solutions for their ABS plastic panels. I'm very satisfied with them.

Merle

[MBF]

You can try softening up the old rubber using armorall on a rag. Keep working it into the material and you should be able to fold the inner lip over to allow you to install your headliner. Mike

[woodscavenger]

How about low heat from a heat gun? Anyone have a donor truck to experiment on?

[Dodgeb4ya]

What other material(s) besides this 'cardboard' type of material, for the interiors on truck cabs? I realize this is the original way but other ideas would be appreciated.

I made a custom headliner using expanded sheet metal custom shaped to the roof and back of the cab with foam backed headliner material glued to this 2 piece assembly that fits and looks original. The roof is one complete assembly and the back window area is an assembly. Both are held in place with the standard panel button clips painted black. Both sections can be removed quickly if need be.On the top backside of the headliner I glued plastic sheeting to prevent water sweating on to the headliner. It will never sag either! I made and installed it in 1988. Other than slight fading it has held up 100%.

Bob

[grey beard]

Bob,

That's the nicest job I've seen on a headliner to date. Was it a lot of work getting the metal cut to the exact size? Sure looks good.

Thanks for sharing those pics. Looks like old fashioned air brakes, too.

[DanOlson]

dodgeb4ya,

Beautifule job on the headliner. What are the sun visors from?

Dan

[YourPowderCoating.com]

nice job indeed, show us the whole truck.

[Dodgeb4ya]

nice job indeed, show us the whole truck.

Making the headliner was a little involved. I will be making another for my pickup soon-will post pic's and info then. Visors are stock and I covered and re-stitched them with black vinyl. Here are a couple pictures of this truck.

Bob

[YourPowderCoating.com]

^^ sweet truck, thanks

[Mario Loya B1B]

Awesome collection of Dodge trucks ya got there!

[Jim Gaspard]

Dodgeb4ya, wow! Your original PilotHouse owner must have really been an uptown kind of guy. In my four years of hunting parts on this forum and e-bay, some of the rarest parts were dealer options. Not many buyers forked over the cash for passenger side rear-view mirrors, arm rests and sunvisors. They are not interchangeable with the driver's side part. The few pieces that were specified on custom trucks have long ago gone to accessory heaven.

Great looking interior. Thanks for sharing. There still may some hope for me of finding these parts someday.

Jim in Dallas

[Dodgeb4ya]

Well I got back to workin on my 52 Dodge truck headliner I'm custom fabbing up. This is my 2nd one. I'm almost done with it. I need to do some binding on a couple of the pieces.

Here are some pictures of all the fun I'm having!

Bob

[Dodgeb4ya]

Guys, today I just finished binding up all the headliner pieces on my PU -didn't sew my fingers to any pieces either, and got all the sections installed with new rear window Steele rubber. It fits nice. Need to install a couple screws and clean the glass and rubber up.Will do the visors later to match-green with black binding. The green looks a bit too light because of the flash. I`ll recover ther seats in black truck vinyl later also. Glad this work is done. Now I need to get back onto my Chrysler coupe!

Bob

[grey beard]

Please tell us more about the extruded sheetmetal you used for your base. This is the nicest installation I've seen to date.

On the other hand, now that you've made TWO of these things, and since you obviously have an excellent pattern, how would you like to make a few more, complete with those neat contrasting bindings, that some of the rest of us coould buy from you? I'd go for one of them right now.

Waddaya say?:)

[greg g]

there is a guy here with a dodge truck who went ot Home depot and got some stuff for free. Its an impregnated paper board product, the comes in between sheet goods like paneling. Its used to seperate batches of material on the pallet, guess its keeps the strapping from scratching the adjoining stock when multiple batches are stacked for shipping. Any way he noticed them unpacking stuff and they were throwing this stuff away. He asked for a couple of pieces and took them home to work them. Says they paint well, and if you wet them take a bend and hold the bend when dried.

I am getting to that stage for my off brand truck so I will visiting the Home Improvement stores shortly.

[Bradley S.]

Hi Bob;

Great looking interior! Say, where did you find the push in fasteners? I broke most of my old ones taking them out. I can't find replacements.

Thanks,

Brad

[Jim Gaspard]

Mr G's in Fort Worth has a vast inventory of fasteners, including our J-nuts found in the floor board pans.

http://www.mrgusa.com/

JimG in BigD

[Dodgeb4ya]

Please tell us more about the extruded sheetmetal you used for your base. This is the nicest installation I've seen to date.

On the other hand, now that you've made TWO of these things, and since you obviously have an excellent pattern, how would you like to make a few more, complete with those neat contrasting bindings, that some of the rest of us coould buy from you? I'd go for one of them right now.

Waddaya say?:)

The expanded metal is .040" thick. The diamonds measure 1.00" X .300" wide. I bought it at my favorite steel supply house. I hand form the metal-easy enough to do, it's very soft- workable.

Patterns-what patterns? I just did some measuring-then a rough cut size and a finish trimming! I made this style of headliner to last nearly forever as the cardboard starts sagging. With the metal backing this won't happen. You could even glue cardboard to it if you wanted the original cardboard look. I wanted a more deluxe factory custom look. As for getting in the Dodge truck headliner business- don't think I can do it as even a part time business. It took me a month and a half or longer just to get this thing done in what little spare time I have. I thought I'd post this job to get someone else thinking maybe they would give it a try. The sewing is the hard part if you don't have a industrial machine and know how to sew. I have always done my own upholstry on my cars/trucks. Self taught. It's a lot of fun too.

Bob

[Vintrader]

OK Bob, I think we all agree you now have become the Headliner GuRu......

Just so I understand, you are using standard foam backed headliner material? And gluing directly to the expanded metal? Doesn't the pattern of the metal show through? What glue are you using? Hope you don't mind all the questions.....

Dutch

[Dodgeb4ya]

OK Bob, I think we all agree you now have become the Headliner GuRu......

Just so I understand, you are using standard foam backed headliner material? And gluing directly to the expanded metal? Doesn't the pattern of the metal show through? What glue are you using? Hope you don't mind all the questions.....

Dutch

Dutch, I have no intentions of being the headliner guru!

I use 3M #77 general adhesive and glue directly to the expanded metal. The foam headliner does not show any sign of what it's glued to. I did test for this issue though. My other truck is the same job and over 20 years old. The foam hasn't broken down after all these years.

Bob

[Fernando Mendes]

Where is the exactly(originally) dimmer light position (top or midle rear)?