Removing Rear license plate panel

montanaT4R · Dec 13, 2008

I'm sure I'm the only dumb guy who's ever wanted to do this but I want to remove the chrome piece above my license plate, the license plate lights are mounted to it...contains the rear toyota emblem. Does anyone know how to do that on a 2006? Do I have to take off the rear inner panel, if so, how do I do that. There's gotta be someone who either knows how or has removed the inner panel of the rear hatch, I assume that's the only way to get that chrome piece off. If anyone knows how to remove the chrome piece w/out removing the inner panel, please please fill me in. I unscrewed the license plate lights and found no releases or screws that would loosen the panel from the tailgate. There are two tabs on either side of the "handle" to open the hatch, however I can't figure out what those do or how they are engineered.

I'm not too hopeful, but maybe I'll get lucky and someone will know...my reason for doing so is I want to paint it flat black to match the front. Maybe someone has a link to a pdf showing how the rear hatch is put together??? I'm starting to thing that short of a body shop, I might be stuck w/ the chrome.

Thanks guys

montanaT4R · Dec 13, 2008

If anyone is unsure, this is the piece i'm trying to remove...looks like this item is just a cover but you get the idea.

http://www.billetanything.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=WC971365

borgzman · Dec 13, 2008

I have a 2003 service manual. If nobody can post a procedure for a 2006, then I have an illustration for a 2003 if they are the same.
You need to remove the "backdoor Trim/Service Cover". The procedure involves removing of 6 nuts and 2 clips by pulling the garnish. The one in the link above is called the "Backdoor Garnish Cover/sub assembly.

A10MileHusker · Dec 13, 2008

Still no luck huh? Is there any way you could just blue tape around it and put some paper around the blue tape, then paint it in your garage or something like that? Or is that too risky? I'm not a painter so I dont know everything that goes into it.

Doug

CRDT4R · Dec 13, 2008

If you look at the site that you posted, it says that one installs with 3M tape. I would think it would be the same. Maybe not though.. call the stealership

montanaT4R · Dec 13, 2008

I'm no painter either, but that would be a LAST resort, not even sure i'd bother if i had to do that... I know from the plastic i painted the other pieces on that bits of paint travel quite far...I suppose I could but like I said, that would be last resort. I'll probably stop and ask the body shop behind the toyota dealer here in town before going that route. I'm sure they have someone who can tell me what to do. I even tried to pop off the toyota emblem...the one up front is held on w/ plastic tabs. However, the one in the rear is simply glued on which surprised me...so I stopped messing w/ so as not to disturb the glue anymore than I already had.

I don't want to ruin a nice rig...I'd rather look at, in my eyes, ugly chrome than a messy diy job.

There's just something about flat black for me. I want to one day build a hot rod w/ my son, he's 2 now, so I have some time to learn some tricks of the trade, that hot rod will be flat black. Same w/ motorcycles. I guess I'm just not a flashy guy.

montanaT4R · Dec 13, 2008

and as to the previous post regarding the 3M tape, I could be wrong, but it appears to me that the piece in the link is not a replacement but more of an overlay. Looks to me that it goes over the stock piece and is mounted w/ tape. I could be wrong however.

borgzman · Dec 13, 2008

Ok, If the 2003/2004 is the same as the 2006 you need to remove the backboard:
1. REMOVE BACK DOOR SERVICE HOLE COVER LH (See page 75-39 )
(a) Remove the assist strap hole cover.
(b) Remove the assist strap assy RH.
(c) Remove the back door trim panel.
(d) Remove the service hole cover LH.
2. REMOVE BACK DOOR GARNISH SUB-ASSY OUTSIDE
(a) Remove the 6 nuts.
(b) Disengage the 2 clips by pulling the garnish, and remove the garnish.

borgzman · Dec 13, 2008

Back Door Garnish

montanaT4R · Dec 13, 2008

When i remove the assistant strap hole cover there is one bolt...when i remove the back door trip cover there is a layer of plastic...do i puncture that plastic or does removint the bolt from the assistant strap hole cover allow me to pry off the back door trim board?? Is it just held on by plastic clips?? The service whole cover must be beneathe the back door trim board. I'm just wondering if removing that one nut frees something up or if i need to puncture the plastic to reach more bolts to get to the service hole cover?

Once I get the back door trim board off it seems pretty easy going... I don't want to puncture the plastic if it doesn't need to be or if it serves an important purpose.

Thank you for the info you provided...I'm getting closer just need a little more info.

MikesToy · Dec 13, 2008

Whenever you take it off, can i buy it off from you or have it?

:

borgzman · Dec 13, 2008

montanaT4R said:
When i remove the assistant strap hole cover there is one bolt...when i remove the back door trip cover there is a layer of plastic...do i puncture that plastic or does removint the bolt from the assistant strap hole cover allow me to pry off the back door trim board?? Is it just held on by plastic clips?? The service whole cover must be beneathe the back door trim board. I'm just wondering if removing that one nut frees something up or if i need to puncture the plastic to reach more bolts to get to the service hole cover?

Once I get the back door trim board off it seems pretty easy going... I don't want to puncture the plastic if it doesn't need to be or if it serves an important purpose.

Thank you for the info you provided...I'm getting closer just need a little more info.

Yes, base on the illustration, there's one bolt, and the back door trim cover is held by 10 clips..and if you pry off the back door trim, start from the uppermost left/right clip, use a flat screw driver wrapped with a cloth. Once removed, i think the rest would be easy..goodluck

montanaT4R · Dec 13, 2008

Thanks, makes total sense now. If I had a heated garage I'd try it right now. It's 4 right now w/ Blizzard conditions, tomorrow's high is -9. I think I might wait a few days...

Thanks again for the help, I think I can handle it now.

And I'm not giving away or selling anything, I'm simply removing a chrome piece in order to make it flat black...it will be reinstalled.

Thanks

montanaT4R · Dec 28, 2008

Wow, that was quite the chore getting that chrome piece off the back. It's in paint right now. Should have pics tomorrow. I think this will complete the look assuming i can get it all back together...

Thank you very much for the pictures, would have been impossible otherwise

montanaT4R · Dec 28, 2008

well it's done and mounted...all is back together. Definitely a different look from behind, but when you see the black wheels and black front grill I think it all ties together. I will post pics tomorrow to get your thoughts. I like it!!! The more flat black the better...but I'm done now. Ran out of chrome.

jharris2 · Dec 28, 2008

Great that you got it done.

montanaT4R said:
I like it!!!

That's the most important part of the project!

mikesam82 · Mar 26, 2017

Sorry to bump an old thread...

I replaced my 2008 SR5's chrome trunk garnish with color-keyed, Shadow Mica garnish today. This, and TREVLOC's thread (http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/80044-trevlocs-thread-2.html#post691329) were very helpful in what's a slightly-more-complicated-than-you-might-expect project. I've replaced the chrome grill for a color-keyed one a couple months back, so the four door handles are the last of the chrome remaining. I'm not overly mechanically capable - and this is my daily driver - so I may just end up having those painted this summer.

To note, the garnish piece holds a decent amount of wiring (two license plate lights, automatic door latch) that you'll need to re-wire through the new piece. As a truck that's never New England, some of the screw heads were rusted over, and I actually had to break a couple of the old garnish's plastic brackets around the lights to free the small screws. Also the rubber on the latch was pretty badly corroded, and I wish I'd bought a replacement for that instead of reattaching a weather-damaged item.

I'm attaching some before and afters, hopefully it works.

Removing Rear license plate panel

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