Is there some trick to remove those pannels on 1st gen 4runners that are directly behind the doors?

 

yep, the old plastic faseners are gonna break. and u are gonna have to go to toyota and buy new ones. why are u trying to remove them?

 

Aint that a b*&tch..

 

yep there is a trick .

If you push the bottom forward , it will release the bottom clip . push up and it will release the top 2 clips , then pull down and release the sail panel .

problem is , installing it back on the clips is next to impossable ... and I have never been sucessfull in removing the clips with out breaking them .

http://www.toyotafiberglass.com/4runner.htm has clips way cheeper then the dealer

 

You can save a couple of the clips..

they will slide off in one direction, I will get some pics to explain..

 

Thanks for the info.

Doing fiberglass rear quarter install. I already have the clips.
http://www.toyotafiberglass.com/1_4_install.htm

I've seen it done before, so I knew there must be a trick.

 

Yep, push forward on the bottom to release the bottom clips then push up to release the top clips. I found the drip rail on the roof precluded raising the panel high enough to free he clips fully, but was able to pop them loose with a little pressure. I re-used all the clips by lightly gluing them into the panel:




Also replaced all the rubber flaps on the vent with some pieces of rubber inner tube cut to fit:

 

Nice work with inner tube! I need to do that same..