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Replacing the Trunk Skin on a Stallion.
Why?
A few months after I bought Stallion 616 I noticed what I though was a scratch from the trunk key hole going straight up. I was not happy about it. Thinking I may have done it I perused hooking up an electric trunk release. I discovered the stallion had an electric trunk release already installed so I ran the wiring to make it functional. I did not want any more key marks on the trunk. Long story short and over a period of a few more months the scratch got bigger. One hot summer day I was amazed that the scratch was almost to the top of the trunk lid and about 4 inches long.
It was not a scratch. I had a crack in the skin of the trunk lid. I also took my license plate off and found several small cracks around one of the bolt holes for the license plate.
I contacted the dealer I purchased the Stallion from and they sent me a new trunk skin. I was not sure I wanted to replace it myself but said what the heck, and started taking the trunk skin off. While removing the screws from the trunk lid I discovered several screws had fell out, and most of the other screws were stripped or had broken pieces of plastic on the end of the screws. After disconnecting the Electric trunk release, trunk light and license plate light, I used a thin putty knife to separate the trunk skin from the trunk substructure. I slowly worked the seal loose with the putty knife and use a thin flat screw driver as a wedge and worked it around the trunk.
I did not have much holding the trunk skin on. It appeared the silicon sealer around the trunk lid was the primary force retaining the trunk skin. The putty knife did a very good job slowly separating the skin from the trunk substructure. The silicon held very solid to the wafer substructure and separated nice and clean from the trunk skin. I ran a bead of silicon Windshield sealer around the edge where it was originally. I used 2 in binder clamps, padded with folded rags, to clamp the skin back in place.
I replaced the screws inside the new trunk lid into the stand offs molded into the trunk skin. I was careful not to over tighten them, and let the lid dry overnight. Be careful not to get the silicon on any of the paint. No problems lining everything up. Excellent fit.
The next morning I pulled the clamps off and used a box cutter to trim the silicon sealer flush with the substructure. Reconnected the wiring for trunk light, backup light and electric trunk release. I removed the TMS and Stallion emblems from the old trunk lid. They came off easy enough with the putty knife but cleaning them up to go back on was not going to be easy. I requested a new set and I was pleasantly surprised to receive them in the mail a few days later.
My autopsy:
The skin was cracked all the way through at the trunk lock.
It looked like the skin was ground down to make the lock retainer fit. I had the same problem putting the lock retainer back on with the new trunk skin. A trick I have used on other vehicles was to use my Dremel cutoff wheel to take about 1/32 of an inch off the slot on the lock where the retainer clip fits. This worked in this situation also. The trunk lock is solid and the retaining clip is much easier to install and still fits tight. I forwarded this information to TMS. The trunk lid skin was also shipped back to TMS.
It took me 4 hrs to pull the trunk skin off and replace it.
Next day…. Clean up excess silicon around edge 1 hr.
Great support from SouthWest Trikes and TMS
