How To Take the Top Off Your Toyota 4Runner

To take the top off you need:

1. a 12mm socket and ratchet
2. a screwdriver
   
3. a way to lift the top off

If no one will help you and you have no hoist, we recommend buying a hoist or building one. The top is heavy and awkward enough that most people won't be able to muscle it off without damaging themselves and/or the top.

Start by opening the back window all the way. Once it is fully in the tailgate, you shouldn’t plan to roll it up again until your hardtop is back on.

There are 2 trim panels on each side that are held on with a total of 16 screws. These panels cover the bolts that hold your top down. Remove the trim panel screws and pull the panels off. We have no pictures of the trim panels because we’ve never had a top that still had the trim pieces.

There are 14 bolts you must remove and 2 locating bolts you may want to remove. They have a 12mm hex head and are 8mmx1.25M thread. If you need to replace a bolt or two, you can use 30-40mm long bolts. Make sure to use a wide washer to distribute the load on the fiberglass of the hardtop.

There are 6 rear-facing bolts on the cab of the truck and 4 down each side of the body. Remove them all.

When the 3rd bolt back on the driver side is installed, it tells the window that it is permitted to go up and down. It’s good to remove this bolt so that you won’t accidentally roll the rear window up. According to the manual, you may even damage the switch by installing the bolt without the top (we’ve never had this happen, though). However, you might be installing a soft top that requires the side rail bolts. To solve this you can either:

1. shim the bolt up with washers so that it only engages the threads in the body
2. not worry about it

If you have dogs, kids, or are a little klutzy, we recommend you shim the bolt up. Otherwise the window can rise out of your tailgate unsupported if someone holds the switch down and that can’t be a good thing.

The top weighs around 150 lbs. Unbolted from your 4Runner it’s flexy, fragile, and can be a awkward to carry. Take great care when removing the top. When it’s secured to your truck, it’s safe, but the thin fiberglass edges can be easily damaged it they’re banged. We have one top that has several dings and breaks on the inside and outside edges where the previous owner(s) weren’t careful.

We’ll describe three methods of removing the top.

This will either go well or will be a disaster. A properly set up hoist will take a little time to set up to keep from damaging your 4Runner or your top. We usually use a high tree branch with a come-along. You should arrange your straps so that the top comes off level and balanced.

In the following pictures, you’ll see that we did not do that and we overcommitted a little bit, so the top came off at an angle. We hoped that the roof rack bar wouldn’t be too out of whack.

Normally, we’d attach to the 2x4s in the images. You might be tempted to wrap one strap around the front of the top and another around the back, but then you risk flexing the top as you raise it.

This is the hardest and most dangerous way to do this. We have done this when we were younger and dumber with FJ40 tops and once with a 4Runner top. Basically, you unbolt the top, get under it inside the 4Runner and stand up with it on your back. Once it’s lifted, you walk it off the truck. You need to have something to walk onto off of your tailgate, like a loading dock or other platform. We don’t like this method because it requires a lot of strength and balance, and it puts your spine in a bent compromising position. If you trip or stumble, you will damage your top and probably hurt yourself as well.

Installation is pretty much the reverse of removal. The factory torques spec on the hardtop bolts is 10 ft/lbs. The manual calls for a specific tightening procedure. If you can use it, that’s great! But your top may be a little off. We usually try to start at the front and work to the back where the top has a little more flexibility to move. Don’t tighten any bolts fully until they are all at least threaded into the body. Bolt “B” is the switch that permits the rear window to operate.