Door Panel "How to??"

[SportTracDave]

Can anyone explain to me how to get the passenger side door panel off (01 Sport Trac) So I can change the mirror, had a bad situation with a mailbox the other day, the mailbox won, and now i need to change the whole mirror assembly.. anyone know where to start with the door panel?

 

[N2FORD]

Two screws on the bottom, two screws near the pull. Take the garnish around the handle out. Start popping it loose at the bottom, key to removal is lifting upward on the panel. It has hooks on the back side of the panel that hold it near the mirror area, that is why you lift upward. This is from memory, hope I got it correct.

 

[SportTracDave]

The mirror comes in Sataurday, definitly keep this on my mind, thank ya sir

 

[Squirrelmaster]

Two screws on the bottom, two screws near the pull. Take the garnish around the handle out. Start popping it loose at the bottom, key to removal is lifting upward on the panel. It has hooks on the back side of the panel that hold it near the mirror area, that is why you lift upward. This is from memory, hope I got it correct.

That sounds about right (it's been a long time for me as well). Just be careful, take your time, and don't force anything. In my old '95 Explorer, one of the previous owners forced the panel when he took it off and broke on of the hooks, which led to an irritating rattle when driving on rough roads . Good luck and take your time .

Tom

 

[riknard]

'01 SportTrac Door Panel - This was the correct procedure

Two screws on the bottom, two screws near the pull. Take the garnish around the handle out. Start popping it loose at the bottom, key to removal is lifting upward on the panel. It has hooks on the back side of the panel that hold it near the mirror area, that is why you lift upward. This is from memory, hope I got it correct.

I had to replace the passenger-side mirror on my 2001 SportTrac yesterday, and the panel removal described above is definitely correct. For the mirror replacement, one has to disconnect the electric cable connection (drives the adjustment motor) and reconnect the new one. For that, I had to remove the speaker, too, as the cable in mine came out of the wiring harness that also connects to the speakers, and doesn't have enough slack to pull it out of the mirror's mounting bolt access ports. It was easy enough.

The bolts holding the mirror on (I believe) fit a 9/32" socket, and have a washer-flange mounted on them. They come out OK with a little care (top port is big enough, bottom two ports require the bolt to be angled up a little bit to accommodate the washer-flange), but look like if they were dropped, they'd stay inside the inner door... maybe with the speaker out, it could be more easily found. The bolt/screws holding the speaker on fit a 1/4" socket.

The door panel then needs prying to pull out the white push-in connectors (are they called rivets?). There was one plastic dovetail hook on the back of the protector that covers the mirror bolt access ports. It looked like it was flat, about 1/2" wide, and then had a downward pointing dovetail that would clip into some place on the door frame. That appeared to have broken off and was gone, and I may have pried too high at first (darn, can't see behind things until you pry them out...). There weren't any white connectors at that height on the panel.

>Rich