Sound Deadening Your 4Runner - Part 1 - Floorboard
By: Bob_98SR5
Date: July 27, 2003
Application: 1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5

Tools Needed
Utility Knife
Heavy-duty Scissors
Forked-bladed Tool
Cordless Drill w/ Philips-head Bit
Breaker bar
Socket Wrench w/ Metric Bits
Flat-bladed Screwdriver

Supplies Needed
Sound Deadening Material for Floor & Roof- I used McMaster's Polymeric Mastic (Part #9709T19 @ $14.62/sheet)
Sound Deadening Material for Doors- I used McMaster's "Self-Stick Roll Roofing" (Part #9640T2 @ $18.56/roll)
Garbage bags (yup, the big ones)
Small Box
Carpet Padding
3M Spray Adhesive #90
Masking Tape
Four (4) Headliner fasteners (color specific; ask your Toyota Parts rep)
- Charcoal 90467-09110-B2
- Moon Mist 90467-09110-B0
- Oak 90467-09110-E1
Mineral spirits

Misc Needed
Patience
Lots of space
Lots of time

Obligatory Disclaimer
I am providing this write up for illustrative purposes only. Perform at your own risk. Any mods (including this one) you perform on your vehicle is your responsibility. Furthermore, commercial use of this write up is prohibited---all images and text are property of 4Runners.org. Linking or copying any portion of this write up will result in legal action as well as the undying scorn from members of the online Toyota 4Runner community. You've been warned.

Summary
There are many reasons for sound deadening. Most professional audio enthusiasts sound dampen (or deaden) their vehicles to eliminate rattles and buzzing from interior body panels. Others like myself enjoy a quiet ride. Whatever your reasons might be, this mod is one of those mods that I wish I would've done a long time ago. I cannot tell you, even with half of it done, how much I enjoy the quieter ride. I'm looking forward to finishing the doors sometime this month.

Now don't let anyone fool you: this mod takes a LONG time. It took me the entire weekend with some interruptions to tear down, install the dampening material, and reassemble all the body parts. Thus, this write up is a longer than usual write up split into two parts. Part 1 will address sound deadening your roof and floor board. Part 2 will address all doors including the rear cargo hatch. This write up is picture-intensive so dial-up users, come back tomorrow night. :) Please note that there is potential to break fasteners if you are not careful, so ample warnings will be given where I personally broke some fasteners.

As always, give credit where credit is due: thanks to various members of Yotatech.com but most especially Bumpin' Yota. Here is the thread that started it all: Sound Insulation

And here is the thread where Yotatech.com members are discussing my work thus far: Sound deading project 1/2 way done- pics and impressions

Step 1: Removing the Front Seats and Center Console
Get your garbage bag and start throwing out all the trash in your 4runner. Now open your center console and put all your valuables in your small box. Take out all your floor mats and set them aside in the large space you've set aside for the "tear down".

Now that you've taken out the "trash" so to speak, you're now ready to remove the seats. For the front seats, slide the seats forward and remove the end caps. Gentle pulling in a circular motion will most likely reveal which way to remove it. If you're not sure, you're going to have to poke your nose real close and look but for the most part, they're easy to remove. After removing the rear end caps, slide the seats backwards and remove the fronts using the same methodology above. After removing the end caps, place them in the seatback pockets.

You're now ready to unbolt the front seats. Take a 14mm socket and remove each of the 4 bolts. You may need to use a breaker bar. After removing the bolts, place them in the seatback pockets. Remove both front seats.

Remove step panel by unscrewing the 4 philips head screws. Remove the step panel by pulling upwards. You can then pull off the kickpanel. Repeat for the other side. And here's a great tip that you should do throughout this mod: use masking tape to tape the various screws and/or fasteners to the panels you remove. It's a great way of making sure you don't lose the fasteners.

Remove the four endcaps (C). Unbolt the seats w/ a 14mm socket. Unscrew philips head screws (S), tape to the panel itself. Then pull out kickpanel (K)		Trust me, you'll thank me for this tip when you start re-assembling everything!

Remove the center console by unbolting two 10mm bolts and two philips head screws. After removing the center console and front portion, remove the center console kick panel. To remove the center console footwell panels, press the center of the plug until it clicks. Pull the plug out. Next, slide the footwell panel in an upwards angle to the back of the 4Runner.

Unbolt 10mm bolts (B) and Philips head screws (S). Lift out console and put away.		Press in the pin, then slide panel backwards

Step 2: Removing the Rear Passenger Seats
You'll need to do remove some trim panels to get these seats off. First, open your rear hatch and remove the rear cargo trim panel by unscrewing the two screws. Remove the trim panel and tape the screws onto it. Put it in your designated space. Next, remove the passenger step panels by removing the two screws for each step panel. Lift off, tape screws to it, and put it in your designated space.

You're now ready to move onto the seats. Remove the four "end caps" on the front of the Rear Passenger seats. They are easy to remove. Next, remove the four bolts with a 14mm socket.

Remove these end caps and unbolt the four 14mm bolts

After removing the four bolts, pull the bottom seats upwards to reveal the next group of bolts to remove. There are a total of eight 12mm bolts. The upper left and upper right hand bolts will take some effort to remove. I used a regular 12mm box wrench. It took some time to get these guys off.

Remove bolts (B). The upper left and upper right ones are the most difficult. Try a 12mm box wrench.

Now you're ready to remove the seats. You'll quickly discover that the rear cargo carpet is attached to the back of these seats. To remove these, I removed them from the out the back of the 4runner.

Here's a shot of the rear carpet and padding that is attached to the back of the rear passenger seats. Good, but not good enough!		Where are the seats? Only you know...

Step 3: Removing the Carpeting
Before tearing out the carpet, do the following: take a magic marker and draw in holes where the seats used to be. You'll be drawing four per side for a total of eight. After drawing the holes, now remove the carpet. You can easily remove the carpet by pulling it out w/ your hands. I'd start from front to back. The only difficult part is near the front section where the carpet is held down with some very tough velcro. For the rear humps in the cargo area, you can simply pull them out too:

Drawing these seat holes will help you align your carpet easily when you reassemble them		Here are your carpet humps. Notice the padding

I've put a page together with close up pictures of the entire 4runner with all the carpeting removed. Click here to view.

NEXT PAGE - Body Panels and Headliner Removal

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