Rear hatch interior trim removal

I think @jerrymildred has disassembled his Prime in this area.

 

Not yet. I let the Toyota body shop deal with it. I haven't mustered the courage yet.

I have tried and tried to find a video about it and all searches lead to everything EXCEPT what I put in the search bar.

 

See the Repair Manual (more info), under Vehicle Exterior: Back Door: Disassembly.

 

If I recall correctly, there are only three big pieces to remove. I'm pretty sure they are only held on with the plastic fasteners. So the trim removal tools are all you need.

The piece at the top of the hatch comes off away from the glass, not along the glass. Hope that makes sense. The attached picture might help. You can see the holes that the trim fasteners plug in to.

The other two pieces at the bottom of the hatch seemed stubborn, but came off fine.

From the pics, you can see that I ran the camera wire down the carbon fibre trim (it just tucks between the glass and the carbon trim or is easily pulled behind the trim -- no need to try and remove the carbon fibre trim) and coiled the excess wire with red zip ties. I used silver duct tape to hold the wire for it's run toward the camera position. In another picture, you can see the rear camera location on the lower glass. I'm also holding the trim piece in its orientation to snap into place (you can see the blue plastic clips pointing in the direction they have to snap in.

For the big trim piece, I remember the plastic handles being really annoying. I don't remember what I did about them.

I fed the rear dash cam wire through the flexible rubber accordian-like hose that is between the car body and the lift gate. This was the hardest and most time-consuming part of the whole process. I had to remove both ends of the hose from where it attaches to the car, feed the wire through (using a stiff wire as a pull and spraying with silicone lubricant helped), and then patiently stretching/pulling/pushing to reattach each end of the flexible hose to its anchor point on the car or gate.

While you've got all this apart, you could add more lighting to the back hatch. See the pics with before and after shots. Tap power off the existing trunk light. I installed two switches (one controls lights on either side of the back area; one controls the 4 lights on the back gate and the wire for power threads through that accordion hose).

Hope this helps. Ask me if things are unclear.

Rob

[editted to clarify a few comments about how to run wires]

 

Outstanding!!!

 

Rob, you passed your cable between the glass and the carbon fiber trim. I was hoping to pass my cable behind the carbon fiber trim because it didn’t look like I could make it stay put next to the glass. Yet when I tried to put a test wire behind the trim, I could not fish it all the way down to the grommet opening - some obstruction is stopping me. Is the carbon fiber trim easily removable?

Also was intrigued with the lights mounted in the trim. Do you happen to remember which lights these were and where you obtained them? Did you find an easy ground near the lights, or did you have to pass a ground wire through the grommet back to the switch’s ground?

 

looking for more information, ideally a video, on this. Need to remove all the trim in the trunk to run rear view camera. Already busted a clip (replaceable) and what appears to be a clip molded to the panel. Been hunting and not finding much. Best sources are install of custom sound systems, installation of LED bulbs. Most sources seem focused on gen3, then gen5 - few on gen4.

 

IMHO, you don't want to be messing with the carbon fiber hatch trim in the winter. Everything is more prone to break easily, wait for spring or summer. The interior will heat up and everything will soften a bit, less prone to breakage.

 

Might be right - I have left the carbon fiber parts alone....the plastic. If the plastic components can be removed then I should be able to get the wire run. Thought this would be the easiest part.
Also - working in a semi heated garage...apx 60.

 

Update: Got back to the this project last night and got the plastic panels removed. It was only after getting them removed when I located a few sources that would have been helpful to know early on. At this point, it looks like I might need to remove one carbon pillar (driver side) to run the wire - AND - it needs to run through the rubber wire harness at the top of the hatch next to the hinge. Each side has a plastic removable clip yet seems more involved than it looks at first sight.

 

Illustrations/documents are always appreciated in place of a link to subscription services.

 

-----
Installed a few LED truck hatch lights while the panels were open. Thought I purchased low profile LEDs similar to Robs image yet the panel leaves little empty space behind it so I had to cut into the carbon for wires and top of led lights to fit. Anyone install similar lights? Where did you place them? Seems like Rob isn't around these days (you know, YEARS later)

I also discovered an assumption that the installed LED switches would be controlled by the luggage light on the right of the hatch below the window. Turns out that switch controls power to the bulb itself, but not the switch. So the lights go on/off when doors open/close. Not too bad. Would like to install a switch or two to control them - Rob if you are around interested in more detail around those two switches.

NOTE: I ran the rear dash cam through the left rubber accordion-like hose and, as Rob mentioned, that was a harder part of the job. Later when installing the trunk lighting I used the right rubber accordion-like hose and, in hind sight, wish I reversed the install. Anyone doing this in the future, the RIGHT hose has less in it... easier to run wires (especially wires that are larger like a dash cam wire w/a plug.)

 

So glad to find this thread. I am in the process to install the rear camera.
Taking off the plastic top panel is easy.
Plan to take the other bottom off.
Is there anything I need to be careful?
I plan to have the rear cam outside in license plate area for best quality.
Just wonder how quality look like having the cam install on the lower glass?
Does anyone know if any video for rear trim removal posted anywhere?

 

----
I wish I waited until warmer weather, as folks here suggested. I have an attached garage and thought the temperature would be fine. I ended up snapping two molded tabs to the large hatch panel. Everything thankfully stays put together just the same but pains me to think I snapped them.

Us the RIGHT rubber boot at the hatch hinge to the run the wire - much less inside to navigate.
Be careful w/the panels so you don't snap the tabs (like I did.) Putting them back together can also be tricky...need to angle them.

I have my rear cam on the lower glass and need to get it better affixed. I thought about taking the cam outside the car for a further visual reach when reversing, though my current reverse cam cam gives the same and seems to get dirty frequently (rain and such.)

Rear trim removal - I eventually found a few but had to search under different search terms - for example replacing the lower back window pane. Poured hours into hunting and found the better resources AFTER the work was complete. For me:
• Run dash cam through right boot (left boot can be the hardest part of the job, the way I did it.)
• No need to fish the wire through the carbon shell....wire slips in at the window point w/a thin dull panel removal tool.
• Ran the rear wire along the header which just slipped right into the header at the rubber door seem.
• Rear trim removal tool ... I got a kit from amazon for like $6.00. The hardwire kit also cam w/one.
• Take your time to properly remove any grommets you run into, so you can put them back w/o having to replace them.
• Think of what else you might want to do once the hatch is exposed. I added LED hatch lights and latch release button.

 

I was finally able to remove this trim for rear cam installation.
I found couple youtube clip for rear panels removal.
This clip is for lift-gate installation, starting minute 7 for panels removal (no audio for some reason)

hope this helps

 

Very Nice video . Good howto for Gen 4 upper two trims.

And my complements to your camera person(s). That had to have been tiring trying to keep the phone or camera steady while keeping the work area in frame.

Gen 4 Plus models hatch trim is a lot easier with all fasteners under the trim and the trim pieces all snap off.
The spoiler on the outside of the hatch, between the upper full wide tail light and the hatch glass, is the worst
- even with the repair manual diagrams - .

Did you get the repair manual?
That is where all the instructions are

That is if they are not already in a post here or a video on youtube.