Anyone remove a perfectly good rear panel?

[Partsman109]

I had the rear panel on my '02 XLT painted yesterday and installed today by body shop that is right down the street from my house and is also a customer of mine at work. The owner gave me a pretty good deal...removing the old cracked one, painting and installing the new one for 100 bucks.

The only thing is that when I got home and inspected the install...it's not fitted as nice as I would have liked. The passenger side of the panel is nice and flush where it meets the glass... but there is gradual, increasing gap as it goes towards the drivers side. It's not a huge gap, but it's not even.
I am very picky when it comes to panels, emblems, trims, etc on the outside of my vehicles not being perfect, or at the very least... fitted so that it looks "right".
I have a friend who owns a body shop about a half hour away from my house, I should have had him do it because he knows how picky I am. I was just trying to make it easy for my wife to drop off and pick up the truck at the shop that is literally two minutes from my house.

Anyway...I would like to remove the panel and re-install it myself, because I know I can get it to fit better.
Has anyone been able to remove theirs without damaging it? I have no idea as to why anyone would have had to remove a panel that is not cracked, but just thought i'd ask. Thanks.

 

[TheNastyZ28]

Not sure if this would help too much, but I got my panel replaced a few years ago when my back window was smashed out by some kid who felt that he needed what was in my truck more than I did.

The replacement panel that I received was never really glued on all the way, but was aligned properly so it never bothered me. It wasn't glued very well in the middle, only at the two ends, so in the summer it would expand causing it to buckle out by as much as a half-inch. Actually, this probably did a good job at preventing it from becoming cracked like so many others with these Explorers. Well about a week ago the glue ended up coming off completely on the right side, so I just had the panel flapping around back there. Luckily I had to access something in the back, because without having to close the lift gate and seeing it bounce around I never would have noticed it until it was too late.

So anyway, with the panel practically off I noticed that it was held on by what seemed like the same type of glue they use to seal the headlights with. I ended up reattaching it by just smearing the right side with plastic weld epoxy, keeping the middle unglued as before to allow for the flexing. If you want to remove the panel, your best bet would probably be a heat gun and a butter knife. About an inch in all around on the panel there are ridges where it's glued, so the butter knife won't be able to cut through the glue without the panel being pulled out (maybe 1/8") using the heat gun to soften the it up.

 

[Partsman109]

Thanks for reply...and for letting me know where it's glued.

I was thinking maybe getting behind the side with the gap with some fishing line, starting there and "cut" it off.

 

[TheNastyZ28]

Fishing line sounds like a great idea. For the record though, there was glue all around the panel, about 1" in from the edge along the entire perimeter. It just seems as if it came unglued on the top and bottom, only being held in by the remaining glue on the edges. Good luck!

 

[Partsman109]

Update...

As I stated in the first post... about the gradual, increasing gap at the top of the panel towards the drivers side, actually got worse...

...pretty sad as it was just installed a few weeks ago. Knowing the owner of the body shop can be a double edge sword...
you get a good deal, but the quality of the work is questionable, as you can see in the above pics.


So...after about an hour of cutting the panel off with a serrated edge knife(the fishing line I had was too thin)...I got to see just what kind of install the shop did. Obviously, not a very good one. There were big blobs of black goo to hold the middle of the panel, and a messy, inconsistent bead around the edge. All of which just pretty much peeled off the panel by hand needing only a little clean up with a razor blade.

After cleaning the goo off...

...panel back on with 3M Super Strength Molding Tape...

We'll see how long this lasts.

 

[Claytondunn210]

The reason the panel cracks is because it is glued to the whole hatch/glass assembly and when weather changes from hot to cold ( and vice versa) its going to expand and contract according to the window. If you buy another panel and pay top have it painted and glued back on you are just gonna have to do it again bc it is gonna crack. Now if you do it like others have said in the forum and put 3m double sided adhesive tape this problem shouldn't happen because the tape will allow the panel to move with the glass and not stretch

 

[Partsman109]

The reason the panel cracks is because it is glued to the whole hatch/glass assembly and when weather changes from hot to cold ( and vice versa) its going to expand and contract according to the window. If you buy another panel and pay top have it painted and glued back on you are just gonna have to do it again bc it is gonna crack. Now if you do it like others have said in the forum and put 3m double sided adhesive tape this problem shouldn't happen because the tape will allow the panel to move with the glass and not stretch

I should have done it myself with the 3M in the first place, but I figured i'd let them do it their way just to see how it would come out...and as you can see, it was not very good.
That's why I removed it yesterday and reinstalled it using the 3M, I hope I won't have to replace it again.

 

[Claytondunn210]

hopefully it will be alright mine is cracked also, ive just been waiting to see everybody's results before throwing money at a new panel

 

[Partsman109]

Just wanted to post an update...since reinstalling the panel back in March with the 3M Super Strength Molding Tape, I have had absolutely NO issues with it.

I probably check it every week or so, and it still looks perfect. Sorry, no pics right now, but I will try to take a few.

 

[garmstrong2007]

Removing rear trim panel

Mine's cracked too. But off to the right of center. I took a quick peak at the edge of the panel. I pried on it a little bit but was afraid to put anything in there. My fear is breaking the glass. Using a heat gun may break the glass as well. I'm a real stickler for appearances. But, can't afford the $ to have someone else fix it. Any thoughts?

 

[Claytondunn210]

It couldnt hurt anything trying a heat gun or its little sister... a hair dryer... the glass wont break unless its like 0 degrees F out and you blast it with 120 degrees from the heat gun.. only under extreme temperature changes and bending. but its urethaned on there and that sh*t sucks!!

 

[Claytondunn210]

gotta love ford there partsman .... you pull the panel off and you can see right into ur hatch area lol what a design!!

 

[enyaw]

Does anyone have a picture of the inside of this panel ?

 

[ajaake]

Here's the what the back side looks like. Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. Took this pic a few weeks ago in Pigeon Forge TN.

 

[enyaw]

Panel

Here's the what the back side looks like. Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. Took this pic a few weeks ago in Pigeon Forge TN.

What I was looking for was a picture of the back side of the plastic panel ( the un-painted side )

 

[Partsman109]

gotta love ford there partsman .... you pull the panel off and you can see right into ur hatch area lol what a design!!

Haha, I hear ya...I have been eyeballing the newer('05?) style hatch...I bet it would fit to replace the older style.

Does anyone have a picture of the inside of this panel ?

From what I remember, it's pretty much just smooth.

 

[Claytondunn210]

when i worked for enterprise i pulled an 06 side by side my 04 for the sole purpose of comparing the rear hatch for swap and it looks completely do-able with maybe some minor modifications... but they measure the same and everything! panel is a tad different but not by much... i just haven't found one around yet... but haven't really been lookin lol.

 

[garmstrong2007]

Mine's cracked too. But off to the right of center. I took a quick peak at the edge of the panel. I pried on it a little bit but was afraid to put anything in there. My fear is breaking the glass. Using a heat gun may break the glass as well. I'm a real stickler for appearances. But, can't afford the $ to have someone else fix it. Any thoughts?

6/12/2011: I found a good panel "FOR FREE" along with all the trim and the wiper motor. It was off a rear glass that shattered. The owner just gave it all away. I sharpened up a thin wide chisel and slowly tapped it along to cut through the glue. Being careful not cut into the panel. Then used a can of touch up to paint to match. Used the same chisel to remove the old panel. Just be carefull to put the chisel's beveled edge towards the glass. This way you won't cut into the rubbber. Once I got it worked loose on one end I pryed it out a bit and continued to "chisel away" at it. I installed the new panel with urethane adhesive.