720 truck - headliner reinstall & that little hook at the rear of the cab

[Telkwa]

OK, so the windshield is gone, and the rear window is out too.  Getting a new windshield.  The glass guy said the original rear window is OK.  He'll make a house visit when we get a break in the rain.

 

But before he shows up I have to get the headliner back in place.  I tried snapping the 3 metal cross-rods that suspend the headliner back into their holes, working from the rear of the cab to the front.  But the headliner was too tight and I couldn't pull the material to the windshield.  Took the cross-rods back out.  That gave me enough slack to get the leading edges of the headliner back to their original locations across the top & sides of the windshield opening.  I used some new double-sided sticky tape and a few dabs of hot glue to get the headliner to stay.

 

But that creates a new problem.  The rear-most suspension rod clips into a hooked arm at the center of the cab.  The arm is above and to the right of the cabin light.  You have to give the rear-most rod a good nudge to get it into the clip, which pulls the headliner tight from front to back.  I'm sure the headliner will pull back out of the windshield area if I try to set that hook before the windshield goes in. 

 

So if I wait until the windshield is in and the urethane has set up, it should be safe to clip that rod back into the hooked arm, right?  Problem is it's a son of a gun to access.  I'm pretty sure I can tear the headliner away from the rear window opening, then reach in there and set the rod.  But after all these years, the headliner is still securely attached to the rear window opening and I don't want to break that seal.  Plus the glass guy will be standing there waiting for me to get out of his way.

 

I can just about stick my hand through the cut-out in the headliner for the cabin light, but it's tight, I can't feel what I'm doing, the rod resists efforts to push it back to the hook, and it'd be a bummer if the cabin light cut-out starts to tear.

 

It seems like maybe I could fabricate some sort of tool that I could use to reach in there, catch the rod, and lever it over the hook, but that's just a theory.

 

Anyone have any suggestions?  Is there a better procedure?  Maybe I should peel the headliner away from the rear window, pop the cross-rods back out, get the windshield installed, wait a day, then work from front to back?

 

EDIT: I went ahead and disconnected the headliner along the rear window.  The headliner has a couple of small tears in it, and a few wounds where I cut too deeply with the utility knife around the windshield.  I wonder if new replacements can be found?