chrisvr6

has anyone ever removed any of the wood trim on the interior? Are there any illustrations in the maintenance manual or any step by step procedures?

nmmuzykam

I had to do guess and check for this stuff when I did it earlier this week, even TIS (the online Toyota Service Manual) didn't really tell you what to do. Most of the pieces just come off (held on by clips) such as the pieces by the steering wheel and the glove box. The one by the 4WD gear selector is removed by taking off the two trim pieces on each side of the center console, and then pulling up the silver piece that houses the gear selector and e-brake. I found the easiest way to take this off is to pull up on the silver part when the cup holder is open. There are a few screws holding on the 4WD selector wood trim, not difficult once the center console has been removed as listed above. The trim pieces that hold the vents are easily removed once the two trim pieces on either side of the center console have been removed, as there are tabs on the bottom that you can pull up on (carefully!) loosening the pieces until they come all the way off. Hope this isn't too confusing without pictures, and I hope this helps you with what you are trying to do!

chrisvr6

How about the trim on the doors? Why did you have to remove the trim? Thanks for the input, very motivated now

nmmuzykam

Not sure about the doors, I know you have to order an entire new door panel to replace the wood inlays, so they may not come off...the door panel itself pops off though, so you can check for screws on the back or something...to remove the door panel, use a flathead screwdriver or someother prying tool, and remove the little plastic piece inside the door handle (pops right off) and remove the screw there, then pop up and remove the leather arm rest on the door, remove that screw, and lastly pry up the window switch plate, one last screw there to remove. Then, just carefully pry the door panel off, be careful as there are some wires that hold it on, but they can be disconnected.

I had to remove the 4WD drive trim because there was a large crack in it, and I wanted to refinish it to remove said crack. I also had to remove the wood vent pieces to get to the nav system to play with the GPS antenna so I could get a signal, lol. Hope this all helps!