2005 Camry XLE roller shade & shelf removal

[Hillingdon]

Copied from my post on Sound Domain board. Struggled with this and lack of info on particular model.

I'm posting this in the hope that I can help someone else who is trying to get the parcel shelf out of their XLE Camry and is having a hard time finding info on how to get it out. Seems most info I ran into was for the more common LE model or lumped the XLE in with the instructions for the LE and so gave incorrect info for my car.

In order to replace the rear 6x9 speakers on this car you have to have the parcel shelf removed.

Off topic, but contrary to instructions given on replacing the rear struts, you do NOT have to remove the parcel shelf to get to the top of the struts. Once the side bolsters on the rear fold down seat back section were removed the tops of the struts are clearly visible and removeable.

I had an instruction sheet provided by Crutchfield, a Haynes manual on the online pdf 2002 shop manual I used to try and figure this out. All gave conflicting or incomplete info. I'm posting this to fill in the hope to fill in some of the gaps for you. The various sources listed above gave good enough info in regard most things with the exception of the handling of the rear roller shade. That is the point I'm going to concentrate on for you in the most detail.

Okay, so the subject car is my:

2005 Camry XLE with no SRS on the sides. The car is a US built car with a 4 cylinder and a build date of 3/05. This car is equipped with a split rear fold down seat back. From the factory the car also had the JBL 8 speaker system.

[Hillingdon]

First off here is a couple of pics of the type rear parcel shelf we are talking about. I've already removed almost everything in these shots, but you can get the idea by looking at the shade, speaker grills & child safety seat mount points. In the pics the roof side trim, 3rd brake lamp and seat side bolsters on either side of the rear seat have already been removed.

[Hillingdon]

[Hillingdon]

When taking the parcel tray out the first thing to remove is the seat base or bottom. This is pretty simple to do, but can take a bit of effort. The seat is only held in with a couple of angled loop type metal pins that go into plastic slots in the floor. I found it easiest to do them one at a time by grabbing the front bottom lip of the seat where it meets the raised floor section and yanking up on the seat. Grab hold at about the centre (from side to side) of the foot well area on each side, so you are close to where the pin is underneath.

When you have both sides popped loose you can then push the seat belts back through the slots in the seats at the back, to remove the cushion all the way. I like to remove the seat bottom just so I don't mark it up while working back there.

If you don't want to remove the cushion all the way you can leave the seat belt latches alone and just tip the seat a bit to reveal the side seat bolster bolts at the bottom that you have to get to.

[Hillingdon]

The next step is to remove the side seat bolsters. These are the pieces that stay in place on either side of the seat back when you fold the centre of the seat back down.

[Hillingdon]

The above picture is of a seat bolster that has been removed. You are viewing it as it would sit in the car. In other words, the top in the picture is the top of the bolster in the car and the bottom is the bottom point when mounted in the car.

To get the bolsters out you need to remove the 12 mm bolt that goes through an attachment point at the bottom of the seat bolster. You uncovered this bolt by removing or getting the seat cushion base out of the way previously. The bolt goes straight through the bottom of the bolster bracket and screws into the metal of the car.

[Hillingdon]

Once you have removed the bolt you need to pull the bolster straight up in line with the seat back in order to unhook it from the hook mount on the back of the bolster. Here is a pic of the hook mount for you.

[Hillingdon]

Refer back to the complete bolster picture and you can see this mount extending from the upper portion of the back of the bolster.

This hook just hooks into this slot on the car body itself. You can see the slot pictured toward the middle lower of the picture just to the right of the wiring harness curving around.

[Hillingdon]

Once you have both bolsters out you need to fold the seat back down.

The trim panel that goes around the trunk opening facing you is held on with small clips. You only need to remove the top row of clips that go all the way across and one either side that is a bit lower down. The pictures below should explain where we are looking. I've not pictured the ones all the way across for you as you should get the idea.
Clip wise there are two sorts of clips. One has a phillips screw head on it and one just has a round button type pin in the centre. The screw type release by turning the screw head about 1/4 of a turn. The centre will pop up a bit. I then grab the screw centre portion and pull up gently on them to make sure the main clip is fully released. I then pull the complete clip out. I don't try to remove the centre screw portion of the clip. Once loose the whole clip assembly will come out.

On the round button pin type just get a small screwdriver or pointer of some kind and gently push the centre pin in. Once it is popped in just a little way the whole clip will loosen and come out.

Hope I've explained that well enough. Just don't force anything as you will break the clips. If you've removed the tension on them correctly by following the above then they should easily come out by hand.

[Hillingdon]

The above picture is where the top row of clips run.

This picture is of the lower clip that needs removing each side. Not essential, but made clearance to get in easier.

[Hillingdon]

Of the sources I was using trying to help figure how to get the tray out this is one where I had a difference.

On one set of instructions I had it said to pry the SRS emblems open on either rear side roof panel (sail panel) and remove the 10mm bolt behind it. My car did not have this at all.

On my car the whole panel is held on with clips and there is no SRS emblem on the rear sail panel.

To remove either side start by opening the door and pulling the rubber door gasket away from the door frame opening. The gasket is the black piece that the door closes against, but also extends inside the car to cover the edge of the interior trim panels. You only need enough to be pulled away so you can work on the sail panel.

[Hillingdon]

Once you have the gasket pulled away you will be able to see (with a light) in between the sail panel and the body. Gently pull the panel away from the metal body of the car to unclip the plastic friction clips. I slowly worked my way on them with a clip tool (any auto store will have these) so as not to damage the clips, loose them or stress the sail panel itself. The panel comes out fairly easily although I could not reach/see the clips when they got closer to the rear glass so I had to reach my hand back behind the panel and gently push out on the sail panel to get it to release. I have pictures below so you can see the clips. Also, the sail panel hooks into the parcel tray/rear deck tray so once loose you have to pull it out while unhooking it. Comes out pretty easy. Hopefully the pictures will help a lot to explain how also.

[Hillingdon]

[Hillingdon]

[Hillingdon]