4- door 93 Explorer - How do you take off the door panels

[Mike Hoffa]

How do you take off the door panels?? There are only two screws on the whole door, and I took off those. Then I tried to take off the plastic handle piece that those screws were. It seemed loose enough...So I pulled. That broke all sorts of little plastic clips around it...lol. I wont do that again. I put the handle back on with the screws, but the bottom is loose now since the plastic retention clips are broken. I'll just try to fix that with super glue.

But, how do you take off the door panels without breaking anything!?!? I want to put in new speakers and run new wires to them as well. If anyone knows please help me out!

Thanks, Mike

 

[TwoToneX]

Just for future reference, you might want to grab a haynes or chilton's manual, they are great for this sort of thing. Otherwise, just pop off the two screws, and the little thing that holds the door handle in place (it just pops out). After that, take a screwdriver and pry open the plastic from the metal, and the top just kind of pulls up. Once you hit a screw, just pry it open. I just pried a couple loose then pulled the rest of the way. It worked and I was able to put the panel back on no problem, but it might break something. I just didn't care, so, if you do care, then I would suggest doing the whole panel with a screwdriver. That's how they say to do it in my Hayne's man. Oh, BTW, you'll want to unscrew your lock. You'll need to take the black cover off before pulling the panel off.

 

[mikeymed8]

The door panels are pretty easy to come off. Just take a screw driver and pop off the black piece behind the inside door handle and take out the screws. TwoTone explained it pretty well. However, running new speaker wire to the doors is a *****. It took me quite some time to get the wires through the "rubber wire thing" between the door. Just be patient, you'll get it eventually.

 

[Mike Hoffa]

Ok...I'll try doing that either tonight or sometime this weekend I think. I hope it works

 

[Crankcase]

Also, on power lock/window models, you have to pry out the power window switch and remove the two screws holding the wire assembly to the switch holder, so it will pass through the door panel. As Two tone said, remove the little black lock knob, but it really helps to lock it too. (Just don't lock yourself out!)

 

[TwoToneX]

To add to what Crankcase said (man, totally forgot about those things ) you also have to unplug the light going into the door. I would suggest taking the negative battery terminal off before you do any of this by the way. Fortunately that's easy, just clicks out...Let us know how it goes and if you need anymore help.

 

[nosaj122081]

CAREFULLY... Seriously, depending on if you park outside alot they could be a little brittle at this age, you'll want to do it when its warm outside or after the truck's sat in a garage for a while to warm up. Also, you can do it with a screw driver, but I tend to scratch the door/doorpanel all to hell when I use one. What I do is pry it up just a little bit with a piece of plastic (or anything else laying around softer than metal), and jam my fingers in there, and pull gently... However, I'm wirey, and have long boney fingers, makes it easy, if you're fingers are thicker you may not be able to do this. If you try, I wear my mechanic gloves 'cause without them I usually get pretty torn up. Also, any audio place sells a special, flat tool that to do this job thats a little better about not scratching things up as bad as a screwdriver would.
PS-I can almost guarantee you'll break a few of the junky little plastic retainers, I always do, but you can get them at Autozone, so don't worry about it.