So my old '94 suffered from a chronic issue - a headliner that draped over my forehead like an unwanted crush. Worse, thanks to the previous owner it was just unutterably nasty, as the first picture below will show.

This past Saturday I remediated it in self-defense. I purchased 1 yard of headliner material (60" x 36") from a local supply company for $15.98. I also purchased a can of their best spray adhesive for $11.40.

Removing the headliner was straightforward - all of the screws are exposed. I removed the visors, the visor anchors, the clothes hanger hook, the interior cab light, and the trim strips along the periphery of the headliner. I then removed the headliner assembly from the truck.

Old, nasty, discolored, delaminated bacteria factory:



Step 1: Grasp the edge of the felt and peel it off. I took care to avoid damaging the backing board (it's really kind of a thin cardboard) as much as possible. Some or all of the backing foam will come with it:



Now I removed the backing foam. If following along from home I suggest a rotary power tool such as a drill with a fine brass wire wheel. I used an air-powered angle grinder with a nylon wheel. In any case, take care (especially if using hyper-aggressive means such as a coarse wire wheel) not to damage the backing board:



The front corners of the backing board are almost unforgivably flimsy. Mine detached so I fixed them with a double wrap of Gorilla tape and a hobby pen knife:



I laid out the new material over the cleaned backing board, taking care to align by eyeball the grain of the fabric. I then used plain old clothespins (although chip clips or whatever also work in a pinch) to secure one end of the headliner fabric in place:



Now I gently laid back the unsecured end of the new headliner material in preparation for the application of adhesive:



I then applied a careful and thorough coating of adhesive on both surfaces. It is imperative that both surfaces be covered separately. I was careful to ensure that adhesive did not overspray onto the felt:



Now I VERY carefully rolled the adhesive-sprayed material back onto the backing board, holding the loose fabric end up with one hand and sliding my other hand down the center of the fabric as it came in contact with the adhesive-covered backing board. I then gently smoothed the fabric outward from the middle. The goal is for it to have a good, firm contact without wrinkles, bubbles, or overstretched areas:



I then removed the clothespins, laid the other end back over, and applied adhesive to both material and backer board of the remaining half of the headliner. Note that I took care to lay down paper towels where the adhesive would have oversprayed the new material I just laid down:



Using the same slide-down-the-middle, smooth-out-to-the-edge method I adhered the second half:



Now was a little bit of work with scissors and the aforementioned hobby pen knife to trim the edges and cut out the relief for the visors, cab light, etc. This is where time and care should be taken to prevent ruining the job.



Installation was the reverse of removal. Stick it up, put the trim edge in place, reinstall the visors, visor anchors, cab light, etc.



Now I have a headliner that doesn't hang in my hair, is not nasty, and generally makes the inside of my truck a more pleasant place to be.

Total cost: $27.38 plus sales tax (whatever that was).
Approximate start-to-finish time: 90 minutes (it was hot and I wasn't really hurrying)

 

VERY nice write up, Brad! You are an asset to FTE! I trust you have provided the inspiration for others to tackle this very common problem of our trucks. Thank you for contributing!

dn.

 

I just did this as well but I found a good headliner and glued black fabric over top.

 

Awesome job!!!

 

I did a rush job on the headliner in my '84 blazer and it started sagging again in just a few months. Do it right the first time kids, don't be like me!

 

Yes, you MUST remove the old fabric and dead foam as Brad did.

Very nice job Brad!!!

 

Heck the fabric wasn't even attached anymore, the trim was holding it up. I kinda neglected the old foam though cuz I'm an idiot. LMC has a hard plastic liner that looks like the old vinyl that was in there so I'll just get me one of them and never have to worry about it again.

 

Nice work!

 

I've got this problem as well, but don't want to spend the $200 for a new one from LMC for my 90 F250... I might see if I can find this material, but was also wondering what it looks like above the headliner if I were to simply remove it. I was actually surprised my "custom" trim level truck even had a headliner.