Hatch sill plate retainers suck! Fixed it

[bavarianblessed]

The plastics quality of the Explorer interior panels is shotty at best, everyone knows that but the rear interior trim pieces seem to be worse than the rest of the car.
The retainer mounting area on the hatch sill plate stretched and started pulling away from the panel the first time I took it off. Since I know that I'll be removing it and reinstalling it as I do more work on the car I decided to ditch the retainers all together.


As you can see, I did a hack job trying to "weld" more plastic onto the retainer risers to keep them from coming off. Obviously didn't turn out too well so I cut them off entirely




I had these brackets left over from a network switch and they turned out to be the exact height needed to replace the retainer standoffs. Test fitted with double-sided tape and then holes were drilled in the car to mount them with rivets




I drilled a hole on each side of the sill panel and with the brackets taped in place refitted the panel so I could mark where the hole in the panel lined up on the bracket. That gave me an excuse to use one of my favorite tools, my nutsert riveter




Then I only had to mount the brackets in the car with a pair of 3/16" rivets for each one and put the panel back in to screw it down





I'm sure this is overkill but not having to deal with those damn retainers everytime is worth it to me.

 

[UNBROKEN]

I’ve had those panels off probably 30-40 times…never had any issues.

 

[bavarianblessed]

I’ve had those panels off probably 30-40 times…never had any issues.

Maybe luck of the draw on plastic suppliers? My ST was built late 2021 so there are some pandemic level QC issues to tend with.

 

[spike5150]

Mine were broken off by previous owner it seems. I removed that panel to work on stereo install. I saw no need for them as everything fits tight with my amp board in that compartment.

Nice idea, though. Thanks for sharing.