Trail Edition: How to remove front valance panel?

J

jnance50

New member
So... it was bound to happen. Massachusetts drivers (no offense) - but my brand new Trail (300 miles - less than a week old) was parked in the Target parking lot and apparently someone backed into the front. Fortunately, all that was done were a couple of insignificant dents in what I've come to know as the front lower valance panel.

Does anyone know exactly how to remove this?

The Repair Manual says:
"1. REMOVE LOWER FRONT VALANCE PA NEL (w/
Garnish)
(a) Remove the 11 outside moulding retainers.
(b) Detach the 6 claws and remove the lower front valance plate."

But that's not exactly clear.

The part I'm in reference to can be seen here:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/81939-te-parts-needed-convert-sr5-limited-exterior.html

As part "A".

Any help would be appreciated. It's not bad - but enough to piss me off - and a new panel is only $104 online. I just need to know how to get the old one off.

Thanks in advance!
 
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Actually, not quite. I'm not sure if the limited is two piece like the trail or not - but it's basically the piece the lower grill snaps into (I think). If you check the link I posted, it's part A.
 
jnance50 said:
Actually, not quite. I'm not sure if the limited is two piece like the trail or not - but it's basically the piece the lower grill snaps into (I think). If you check the link I posted, it's part A.
Click to expand...
You'll have to take the whole front bumper plastic off like in Toystry's thread on removal. The valance has a bunch of plastic clips that hold it on as there are slots that go thru the bumper cover. You can't get to them without dropping the whole bumper.
Valance has tabs that go thru the slots in the cover and are held on by blue plastic clips.Here's some better pics....

Picture0091.jpg~original


And these are what the clips look like..Can anybody translate the Japanese writing on the inside of the cover? I figure it's an inspectors signature.
Picture037-2.jpg~original
 
Last edited:
Thanks! It's hard to tell from the photo exactly how these clips function. Do they actually need to be accessed to be released? From the threads I've read the upper and lower grilles seem to have similar clips that release with a bit of manual force. Are these a different type then?
 
Forcing it could work. It could also tear the front bumper cover and you would have a bigger mess than what you started with. It does not take much time to remove the front cover so you can do this job right..
 
Nice! Thanks guys for all the info. One last thing - can anyone recommend a particularly good thread showing how to remove the front bumper cover? The thread I saw from Toystory didn't show pulling the entire bumper cover, only the upper and lower grills from the bumper cover.
 
it's pretty straight forward. some screws on the inside of the wheel wells, then just clips if i recall correctly. this is what you're left with

bddb0a75.jpg~original
 
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