C-Pillar trim removal (and hello)

[TexasTorque]

Hi all, I traded my '06 F150 of almost 19 years for a '21 XLT a few weeks ago and have been lurking here since that time trying to get at least moderately up to speed on what it would take to add the 360 cams. Got far enough that I was comfortable with starting to accumulate parts. Huge thank you to all of the trailblazers here (especially Jesse and TLUSK!) who have gone before me and seemingly solved and shared the answer to all of the mysteries. Except this one.... What is the trick to getting the C-pillar trim off?!

Thought I'd start with something easy and run the wiring from the IPMA back to the high mount cargo cam. I'm sure this is a sign of things to come, but the truck is already putting up a fight. For the life of me, I can't get the trim released from this "tether clip" (whatever that is) near the roof. I've got the trim piece loose everywhere else and can (barely) wedge my hand in there and pry in the area of this tether clip but it isn't letting go. The service manual has this cryptic "escape room" set of instructions on rotating... something(?) I've not been able to piece together what exactly they are trying to convey in their diagram and certainly haven't been able to feel anything willing to rotate. Inset image #1 below implies that the panel itself should just pry away from the pillar. I've tugged hard enough without success that humbling myself here for help was the better option to potentially breaking it.

I have it all loose enough that I could just stuff the new harness in there, but kinda wanted to get it zip tied down in a place or two to keep it from bouncing around and to make sure it stays away from the seat belt & air bag.

???

Sponsored

 

[FrankSJ]

Hi all, I traded my '06 F150 of almost 19 years for a '21 XLT a few weeks ago and have been lurking here since that time trying to get at least moderately up to speed on what it would take to add the 360 cams. Got far enough that I was comfortable with starting to accumulate parts. Huge thank you to all of the trailblazers here (especially Jesse and TLUSK!) who have gone before me and seemingly solved and shared the answer to all of the mysteries. Except this one.... What is the trick to getting the C-pillar trim off?!

Thought I'd start with something easy and run the wiring from the IPMA back to the high mount cargo cam. I'm sure this is a sign of things to come, but the truck is already putting up a fight. For the life of me, I can't get the trim released from this "tether clip" (whatever that is) near the roof. I've got the trim piece loose everywhere else and can (barely) wedge my hand in there and pry in the area of this tether clip but it isn't letting go. The service manual has this cryptic "escape room" set of instructions on rotating... something(?) I've not been able to piece together what exactly they are trying to convey in their diagram and certainly haven't been able to feel anything willing to rotate. Inset image #1 below implies that the panel itself should just pry away from the pillar. I've tugged hard enough without success that humbling myself here for help was the better option to potentially breaking it.

I have it all loose enough that I could just stuff the new harness in there, but kinda wanted to get it zip tied down in a place or two to keep it from bouncing around and to make sure it stays away from the seat belt & air bag.

???

welcome and congrats on the truck

12:00 minutes in shows how to release

 

[TexasTorque]

Ugh. Thank you Frank! I googled and googled and could not find a video. It seems that I'm just not pulling hard enough because now that I see the video, the rotation portion didn't have anything to do with actually getting the top of the trim piece loose. Mine isn't letting go like his did in the video, so I started assuming that it was a different type of retainer clip altogether and that the rotation step was part of the panel release process. The rest of the clips released pretty easily. I'll try prying from the window like he did instead of from the very the top... maybe it's the angle... Thx again!

 

[TexasTorque]

So coming from the back window side didn't make any difference.... Seeing the video and knowing now that the rotation step isn't relevant yet made me comfortable to get a little more aggressive with it. Managed to get a pry tool up in there against the clip pry and the metal frame and it still isn't budging. The clip comes in and out of the socket slightly but has a very solid stop.

Tried the passenger side as well for comparison and it is behaving the same. Dug out an old borescope camera and am charging it up to see if I can get a better view of what the heck is happening at the clip.

Crazy.

 

[FrankSJ]

So coming from the back window side didn't make any difference.... Seeing the video and knowing now that the rotation step isn't relevant yet made me comfortable to get a little more aggressive with it. Managed to get a pry tool up in there against the clip pry and the metal frame and it still isn't budging. The clip comes in and out of the socket slightly but has a very solid stop.

Tried the passenger side as well for comparison and it is behaving the same. Dug out an old borescope camera and am charging it up to see if I can get a better view of what the heck is happening at the clip.

Crazy.

When I did this for the subwoofer install the metal clip stayed in when I removed the panel..if that happens make sure to get the clip out before re-install. those Panel can take a good tug, surprised it hasn’t come out yet

Sponsored