During our trip to Alaska this last summer I managed to damage the inner skin of the rear door to out Toyota FJ Cruiser. I managed this by leaving the rear door open while I move the FJ forward about 10 feet. I turned and the door caught on the trailer and you can just guess what I heard. A little work with the rubber mallet and the door closed just fine, lucky me.

Painted new door

This winter I finally got around to ordering a new door from Toyota. I had a local body shop, Skinny’s, paint the door which I finally got back mid January. I found out that white is not just white when it comes to the FJ. The paint guy had about 7 paint samples that we had to pick from for the best match.

Damaged old door

The hardest part of removing the door is extracting the wiring harnesses. The external trim panels also need to be removed. The window is easily removed with 4 bolts. With all the parts removed from the old door it was easy to unbolt and remove from the FJ.

Wiring Harness

The installation of the new door was just the reverse process of the removal. The wiring harness was threaded back in to place and all the clips were reattached. I used some silicon to help hold the clips that ended up being a little loose.

New door with harness installed

To replace the rear trim panels new clips are required which cost about $2.50 each, Toyota is real proud of these clips.

Rear partway complete

I salvaged the badging from the old door but have yet to reinstall it.

Completed install

To replace the door took about 2.5 hours and I saved several hundred dollars doing the work my self.