Replacing the carpet in a 4th gen 4Runner

[antidentite]

The used 4Runner I purchased has some problems on the interior, especially with badly stained and worn carpet. It's apparent that the previous owner never bothered with floor mats :bash:

Not to mention the inside smells horrible. Does anyone know how hard it would be to replace the interior carpet altogether, or the costs involved?

Attempts to steam-clean and ionize the interior havent helped much with the smell...

 

[Good Times]

it's doable on your own. will require a lot of patience as there's a lot to remove:

pillars
plastic pieces
center console (between front seats)
front seats
back seats (top and bottom)

lots of screws and plastic caps/screws that can break easily so be very careful.

if you have a fsm (field/factory service manual) I highly recommend you get it if you plan to do this on your own. it shows you how to remove everything. Once everything is removed it's easy to clean.

good luck

 

[antidentite]

Thanks GoodTimes. Have you had personal experience with such an undertaking? If so, how much time do you think it would take from someone who's comfortable with basic/intermediate repairs but little experience with this type of undertaking?

Also, any recommendations on where to get an FSM? The vehicle didnt even come with a manual, so this is something I'd have to purchase for sure...

 

[Good Times]

Doing it the first time it'll take you a full weekend to get everything apart. Once you know where all of the tabs/bolts/nuts/connectors are it'll be easy doing it over and over.

FSM can be purchased on ebay/online/dealer. Dealer cost is around 200 for vol 1 and 2 (vol 3 is only for v6 - engine). ebay is roughly 1/2 price so hunt one down.

I've removed part of it in chunks when I was wiring up stuff but not the entire carpet as a whole. I've seen others do it so I know it's relatively easy but a tedious job.

Good luck

 

[JP4RNR]

The other part to consider is how much of a bloody fortune will Toyota charge for the carpet.

Back in 89 when I was inquiring about re-carpeting my truck toyota wanted like $1200 for carpeting.

Because of the high cost, carpet is one of those parts that gets discontinued fairly quickly after the vehicle goes out of production.

You may want to consider an after-market carpet solution as it would be a fraction of what Toyota charges.

The quality of carpet Toyota gets from their vendor today is no where near as good as the carpet in the mid to late 80's and probably you could get better quality going aftermarket as well

 

[Hirox]

Mine is 3rd gen but it might give you some idea.
I was trying to replace all carpet front to cargo because of cigarette burns etc.
But buying new carpet cost me a lot . and what I find auction was worse than mine.

so what I did was bought big rolls of charcoal floor fabric (I was told that is stock GM or Chrysler floor material. not quite remember) cost me for $80 to cover all over to cargo area. (under rear seat too). and spray grew ($10).
Fabric was very soft and follows any curves on the floor.

I removed front and rear seat, scuff plates, side panels (just pull it and can remove)
You can push the carpet in with something flat to center console so no need to remove if you don't want.
If you go for cargo area, you need to remove big side panels. and back doors pillar and scuff plates.

Then all you have to do is cut it bigger for drivers and passangers and spray grew to old floor and place new floor.

It took me about 6hours to be done.

But you say it smells so bad.. how about remove seats first and try to wash it again with carpet cleaner?

here is pic after placed charcoal floors.

 

[4dailyRunner]

I know a Jeep Guy that..

I know a Jeep Guy that rips out carpet and uses Spray on Bed-Liner material in its place.

This allows one to hose out the inside as well as the outside.

Extreme but effective.