When Did The Coat Hook Move?

[Gary Lewis]

I discovered today that the coat hook on Dad's truck was behind the driver and the one on Big Blue is behind the passenger, as you can see in the pic below.

So, I wonder when it changed.  Please chime in with where yours is and what year your truck is.

[kramttocs]

That's really surprising. Does the catalog show different trim pieces?

86 - passenger side

[Gary Lewis]

Good question, Scott.  Looks like it changed in '83.  But, did it go back in '87?  If not, why is the E7 different and why is it used on the 80 - 82 trucks and not the E3?  

[Frank Wyatt]

Mine is a '81 F150 Custom so doesn't have that trim piece but the coat hook is on the driver side in my truck.

[salans7]

My 1980 had the coat hook on the driver's side, as did the 1982 I pulled my interior from.

On my 1990 the coat hook is still on the passenger side.

The reason why 1987 has a different part number is because all of the headliner trim is held on using screws starting in 1987. So the newer panels have screw holes in them. The bronze/gold/brass clips used to hold everything up on the bullnose trucks was discontinued and I'm assuming the MPC will show that.

I believe the reason behind the 1987 panels listing as a replacement is because the front and rear trim panels are still the same from 1980-1996, the 87+ versions just have holes drilled in them for the screws used to mount them. You can still insert the bullnose clips into them. In fact, my 1990 cab still has the holes for the bronze clips up front above the windshield.

[HBF84]

84 F-150 Regular cab and Custom trim... passenger.

[Gary Lewis]

Frank - Thanks.

Shaun - That makes sense.  And, btw, screws are HIGHLY preferable to those !@#$%^&* clips!  That trim above the rear window took an hour to get on today.  What a pain!  But if there'd been screw holes I'd just have inserted one of the awls I was using to align things in one hole, the other in another, and run a screw in the others.  Done and dusted!

[salans7]

My only gripe with the screws is that they're self-tapping, and so the holes are placed like garbage on every single 87+ truck I've taken parts from. It seems like they just held the panels up in the right spot and wherever the screw drilled through is where the holes are.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, I noticed similar things on Big Blue.  For instance the existing coat hook has two screw holes under it - one that looks like it was put there when the cab was made, which still has paint in it, and one below it that was created when they assembled the truck.

And the plastic blocks into which the trim screws go for the B-pillar trim.  The chances of lining up with the previous hole are slim and none, especially if the block fell off and you have to replace it, so you'll have multiple holes in the blocks.

[FuzzFace2]

I would have to make sure but pretty sure both of my 81's a Custom & Ranger it was on the left side.
Cant say driver or passenger side as the down under people drove on the right side no?
Dave ----

[ArdWrknTrk]

Shaun my '87 agrees with this 100%.
But on the rare occasion I do have to use it I'm glad my dry cleaning or wet slicker is not behind me.

[86 1/2 Brutus]

Brutus is on the passenger side, 86.  We took the trim pieces out of the parts truck, 88 and is still on the passenger side.  If memory serves, they moved it when they put the blue ovel on the grille, but not 100% sure on that

[86 1/2 Brutus]

Shawn, if you notice all the trim pieces on our trucks are just kind of shoved in there and screws put wherever.  You should see the speaker cutouts in my doors for the factory 6x9's.   The bullnose truck as like all trucks before them started there life as a farm truck, stripped, no trim, no nothing really.  Ford just started sticking trim pieces and stuff and just putting self tapping screws in, some corcked.  This is also why our trucks have so many seperate wire harness's.  if you notice the wireing on the 87 and up came into mostly a single wire harness

[Rembrant]

Passenger side on my '84 F150 Gary...screwed directly to the cab as there is no interior trim in my truck.

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, guys.  I guess we can sum it up this way, with "driver's side" meaning the left side in North America.  Dave has a point about left vs driver's side, but we don't know about trucks produced for other countries, like Australia.:

1980 - 82: The coat hook was on the driver's side, with the trim put on with retainers

1983 - 86: The coat hook was on the passenger's side with the trim put on with retainers

1987 & on: The coat hook was on the passenger's side, but the trim was put on with screws.  That trim can be used on Bullnose trucks as it still has the crimped edges to take the retainers, but it'll have screw holes showing so you might want to use screws in place of or in addition to the retainers.

Is that a fair way to summarize it?

[salans7]

I like it.

[86 1/2 Brutus]

Looks good to me