Our crew cab headliner is disintegrating...fabric type. Looked on the crew cab headliner thread and didn't find what I needed. What do you do to replace the headliner. Have glued the fabric down in the past but not it is literally falling apart. The question is what do you do to repair it?

 

Take your truck to a reputable auto interior shop and let the pros do it.

 

If the cardboard form for the headliner is still good, you can "re-line" it yourself fairly easy.
Remove the headliner and the old material and with an airhose, blow any loose particles free.
Use 3M Spray Adhesive... and the color of material you want the headliner to be but make sure it has elasticity to it. The reason I say this is the curves and humps in the headliner form. Normal material is a pain to get nice and smooth into the corners.

Spray the back side of the material with a nice even layer of adhesive and do the same on the cardboard "down" side. Wait about 5 - 7 minutes for the adhesive to get tacky. Then with the help of another set of hands, starting in the middle, allow just the center to touch. Then slowly smoothing the material down to the cardboard. Little by little allow more material to make contact. The stretchy material will aloow you to tuck it into the inside corners and stretch a little over the outside curves.
Once done....let it sit for about 30 minutes then reinstall.

If the cardboard doesnt hold up to being handled easily, then pitch it and have a shop redo it.

 

Thanks BillyBob for your reply!! The headliner is good except at the front windshield. I use a sunshade which may have started it messing up. I think if they had tucked it under at the factory, it would have never started to come down in the first place. I don't think I can take the whole headliner out without messing it up or taking out the front windshield. I tried to glue it at a spot but it did not hold. It seemed to make the fabric rotten where the glue was and it only held for a short time. Since this is a '99 it has been through a lot of hot Texas summers! Surely I am not the only one that has had this problem. I really didn't want to spend a lot of money...reason for not taking it to a pro shop. Guess I could always use some "redneck" chrome...some call it silver duct tape. Has anyone else had this problem?...and had a fast fix? I don't care if it is perfect...just seems to be falling down more all across the windshield...am sure the whole thing will fall down eventually. Thanks to all the viewers...how 'bout chiming in?!

 

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Don't use duct tape. I would still take it to a pro, for advice - you don't HAVE to leave it with him and pay for it. Ask him how he'd fix it for cheap and for big $$. Make him sell you his product.

Yes- the sun may have fried the fabric to the point where there's not much left to glue back, but the 3M adhesive shoudl work if you apply it correctly. You might also need to remove the windshield trim to get access to the areas you need.

You could carefully trim off the falling fabric and spray the headliner backer panel red with fabric/vinyl paint. Fairly redneck, but if you don't look up, it won't seem so bad.

 

Ford... Order a new one.

The old one lasted for 12 years, why dick with it again in 5 more years?

 

SteveH: Thanks! The bad part is only about an inch and a half or two inches starting to hang down. I am afraid once it really starts lifting, it will go all the way to the back of the truck. There is no molding at the windshield except the rubber windshield sealer...where the glass sets in. If they had folded the headline material over the cardboard...even a little we would not be having this problem...I don't think! When this first started a few years ago I read somewhere that you could not get this headliner out without taking out the windshield. I just want the fabric to stop peeling off. I don't care how it looks because my sun visor is over it most of the time.
Even if you could get it out there are a lot of things to disconnect...the box with the temp, mileage, plus the interior lights. A lot of junk to pull off...even if I could get the headliner out. Thanks alot for your advice! If I ever pass an uphostery place I may ask them about it. It has been so hot in Texas, I have just been spending my time reading about the power strokes. Always finding out something that I didn't know that might help me down the road.

 

Cover everything to help with overspray and use 3m spray glue. I did it in an old jeep I had and it worked for two years.