I am not even sure this is the right place for a question like this because I'm new and taking a stab at this.
I have what was my Dad's 2002 Dakota SLT. He's been mine a few years now but not driven and I'm trying to get it fixed back up so it CAN be my daily driver like it was for him before he passed. Most of the damage left is now, hopefully, just cosmetic (it was having over-heating issues that were supposedly repaired by a mechanic who took advantage of me as a woman thinking I'd be passive about it, but was quite wrong when it comes to my daddy's truck. Loooong story. Point is, he was a jerk who kept my truck far too long and I don't believe actually fully repaired it, so I'm getting it checked out by someone I feel I can trust more.). He needs a new front bumper as it sat so long it's rusted through, a back slider window, and a new headliner. The bumper and back slider glass I feel okay with doing myself, but when it comes to the headliner, I am at a loss!

I'd LOVE to do a custom color if I could rather than put the odd mismatched 'greige' (grey-tan?) color that was there before. Or, bare minimum, change it to be black at least?

Anyone have any advice, instruction or words for a newbie on replacing headliner in their Dakota? Anyone done it themselves and is it a big a pain as I'm afraid it's going to be?

 

The headliners either fail or they don't, depending on the batch of glue being used at the time they were made.

By far, the easiest way to resolve this is to visit a junkyard (u-pull-it) and pull one out of a truck like yours. Breaking the back glass in the junkyard truck is the easiest way to remove it, if the seats are still in it. Also, installing it when you are replacing your back glass will make life a whole lot easier, especially if it's a quad cab. Make sure the hole for the roof console fits yours. This is how I replaced mine and that was ten years ago.