dash removal

[09autotech]

ok i removed the dash out from my 98 silverado 1500. it had cracked from the sun so i took it out not knowing wut i was doing took about hour and a half to do...i fiberglassed it and in the process of getting it smooth and finding a color i wanna paint it, then i gotta re-install it..anyway i looked on this website and on google for a how-to but couldnt find one for dash removal and re-installing..any help or suggtions would be nice...i can do it on my own but it'll take longer..lol thanks

[jimmy_dong]

usually reinstalling something is the reverse of how you took it out.

[Hodges87]

Take pics when you reinstall it please! I have to change my evaporator sooner or later and any pic's will be appreciated.

[09autotech]

ya i understand that it's reverse of taking it out but just wanted to see if there were any trick's to it cause it's a pain to takle something like this when it's your first time doing it...i also need to glass ans smooth my door panel and paint, and i just picked up a 5/7 drop kit im going to install...

[09autotech]

Take pics when you reinstall it please! I have to change my evaporator sooner or later and any pic's will be appreciated.

i'll take pic's why do you need to change it out??

[Hodges87]

The previous owner stripped the nut that goes to the drier. In the future when I service my a/c I plan on replacing it.

[chevy_man81]

could you take some pics of your fiberglass work? I've been thinking of doing this on my 88 dash.

[Sittinlow89]

pics...

[09autotech]

will post pic's asap iv had no time to work on it since i took it out

[Sinister C3]

Did you notice how it hinged on the 2 studs on the side? Just set the dash on those studs and let it hang while you hook up all the electrical and then swing it up into place. Easy..

[09autotech]

eaiser said than done..lol

[09autotech]

ok im going to get back to my project and wondering if i should glass the dash cause it is cracked or if i should just buy a whole different dash...id rather buy a different dash but cant find one at the junk yard or anywhere online...and glassin it is going to be a biT#$:charge::scared::chair::wtf::bull:

[Hodges87]

I would try another yard in a different town, you will save a bunch of money getting it at a yard compared to glassin it

[09autotech]

i already have all the stuff to do the glass work cause i work on boat's but it's just the time issue

[Hodges87]

Why don't you get a dash from a yard and glass it when time allows. After its complete just swap it out, so your truck isn't down for to long.

A glassed dash would be worth it! IMO

[09autotech]

i already removed the dash and truck has been sitting i drive my s-10 while im s l o w l y working on this one, just need to get the dash done and back in before i forget where all the bolt's and screws go..it's a pain in da azz

[heavrolet9894]

Did you ever finish the dash? I'm pulling mine in the morning to do some crack repairs, smooth it out, and paint it. Just curious.

[09autotech]

i just bought a used dash from my buddy...if i had to do this again i would not remove the dash, if you can just glass,smooth, and paint it while it's installed...i had a small hole and some small cracks on my dash and i thought it would be fine, i'll just take it out and glass it right....nope not right, after i finally got all the screws,nut's and wires unplugged and out i was ready to remove the dash, so that's wut i did...i had my buddy help and as soon as it came out it fell apart, cracked and just commited suicide..beyound fixable..sucks' man, not fun..

[heavrolet9894]

I have already started pulling my dash and I have it all loose and just hanging there on the column and I can't seem to figure out how to get it out. I remove the one screw that I saw holding the duct work and popped the ducts off of the back side of the dash so I could get all of the wires out but I can't get the ducts out from behind the dash to expose the wires. I removed the bar from under the column but there is a black plates on each side of the column that seem like they are going to be in the way. None of the post I've read have said anything about having to remove them. Did you? I'm pulling it out to repair some cracks and paint it and every little movement makes the whole dash pop and creak and I'm scared that its going to break apart. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[09autotech]

lol same way i did it i feel like we gonna know wut were doing after we complete this task...same way i did it just, and the cracks and pops too...ok there are screws on the duct and yes take them off.. ok when you pulled the gauges out there are little tabs that you have to cut and push out of the hole's, those are holding the main wiring harness to the back of dash, the main thing is to unplugg all the wire's cause that is what keep it from coming out...and yes remove the black plate..i removed everything i thought need to be removed except the steering wheel..it's actually easy to remove after you get all the wiring loose..i cant wait to install it..yaaaaa, how you gonna go bout smooth'in it and what color you gonna paint it??? p.s just take you time be patient or you will crack the dash in half... post pic's if yu can and ima tkae some tomorrow and show everyone what happens when a dash rot's...if you have anymore question i'll go out to my truck and look around tell you what's where

[heavrolet9894]

Lets see, I removed the black plate from under the column and dropped the column to the seat, I pushed all of the taps from behind the gauges out. I saw the screw on the passenger side but not on the driver's side so I pulled on it and it popped off so I'm guessing that I broke something. Did you remove the duct work before you actually got the dash out because I can't seem to get the dash forward enought to actually pull the duct work out. Also when I dropped the column I only pulled the two nuts at the top of the column to drop it but there are two more down low by the firewall, did you pull those also it looks like those two just stop the column from actually pulling out and away from the firewall. I have some friends that work at the bodyshop in town so they are going to help with the smoothing and paint but basically were going to sand it down with some 80 and 150 then a few coats of primer alittle more sanding probably work up to wet 800 then start to add some color. I'm going to paint it silver to match the truck but I can't decide if I want to add anything to it before it gets clear. I'll work on getting some pics up.

[heavrolet9894]

A couple before pics and where I'm at now
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/3-17-094.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/DSC05565.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/DSC05577.jpg

[heavrolet9894]

It is definetly a mess and a pain in ass but I think it will be worth it in the end.

[09autotech]

nice, i removed the 2 nut's under the colume and i did take the duct out before the dash it was easy after i removed the screws, tip, on each side under the dash where you have to remove the nut's and pull it out at an angle if you have to, take a flathead and pry the metal tab to make it eaiser to remove, hard to describe, make sure you push all the wires through and the duct has to come out cause the main wire harness runs behind it and that will keep the dash from leaving the truck...

[heavrolet9894]

I finally got it out a few hours ago. I didn't break apart thankfully I'll get some pics up tonight of the dash out. I'm looking forward to starting the paint work this weekend hopefully. I just can't decide it I want to put anything else on it. Like any kind of decal. I would love any ideas.

[09autotech]

as far as painting it goes id like to see lots of skulls and flames like it's a tattoo on the dash but id probably keep it simple and paint it silver and do the vent, ash tray and all the other odd's and end's black or something just so it's not boring...but make sure you plan it out long and strong cause you already got it out and dont want it to look like **** when you out it in...lol would suck, im stuck on my truck i need to decide what im doing so i can reinstall...i need to chose my color for the exterior so i can pick it for my interior and pain my dash so i can reinstall...how you going to smooth it?? what steps

[heavrolet9894]

Well I finally got the dash out last Thursday. I haven't had the time to post any pics yet so here they are.

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/DSC05588.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/DSC05589.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/DSC05590.jpg

Once it was all out I did a little plastic welding to repair some cracks

http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/DSC05601.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/DSC05604.jpg

The plastic welding work pretty good for the larger crack but the little tabs at the defrost area would not stay together. Another problem I'm having is the fact that the plastic around the mounting holes for the three screws on the top of the dash is all broken away. So basically ther are no mounting holes up there anymore. I don't know what to do about this problem. I thought about just cuting the vents out so there's just one large hole and somehow mounting a piece of billet grill there but I'm not sure how well that would work. Does anyone have any ideas. I would love to hear them.

[09autotech]

i just finished my truck, thr re-install...it was actually pretty easy..i have the same problem whit the 3 holes..use some fiberglass and resin build it up and drill a hole when it's dry..use wood for support if needed..

[BigBody90]

You definitely need the top three holes or else your dash will shake.

I am about to put my dashboard back in in a few weeks and I plan on taking out my front windshield to make things easier to hook up and fit in. My windshield has buckeyes in it anyway and insurance replaces for free. I will let everyone know how well this works.

I tried putting in a mock up dash and I could not get it in with the duct work on it.

[09autotech]

good thing you got insurance that will cover the windshield...it's a pain

[CKgmt400]

To fix the three holes up front i cut rectangles out of plastic just big enough to fit in the indention then ran my screws threw that worked and isnt noticable especially if you die the pieces to match the dash.

[heavrolet9894]

I think were going to fiberglass over the whole dash to add strenght and paint over that. Building up the holes out of resin sounds like a pretty good idea.

[heavrolet9894]

Little update.My dash finally went in the both for primer today. I'm really hoping to have it back by the end of the week or the begining of next week. My buddy thats painting it for me is using a plastic filler they have in the body shop to completely fillin the defrost vents and top screw holes, once everything hardins up I'm going to redrill the screw holes from the back side and cut somekind of vent for the defrost. I was planning on flush mounting some tweeters in the corners by the windshield before it got painted but the funds just aren't available at the moment.

[09autotech]

cool, i got my dash back in and it was simple..much easier then takin it out...i had a problem though, my truck would start and shut right off and i didnt know why...after thinkin bout it for a few i noticed that my sercurity light was on so i reset it and my truck is back

[Redliner Raw]

Any pics of the backside of a dash? I'm thinking of removing my '94 dash, but it seems there's lots of spots where wires are attached to it, and I don't want to yank the **** out of it to get it out. All the bolts/screws are definitely out.

[tornadoman03]

i have taken my dash out atleast three times the whole thing out of my 98 c1500 and re painted white and black bad idea dont paint anything in your truck white drit shows real bad

[heavrolet9894]

Finally, I just got my dash back last week. It turns out that the first guy I had painting it was lying when he told me it was in primer back in December so I took it to someone else that was very busy. Anyways I finally got it back and it looks pretty damn good.
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3522.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3518.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3519.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3520.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3521.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3539.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3542.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3543.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3565.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3594.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3595.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3596.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3597.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww56/heavrolet98/Dash/IMG_3619.jpg
It was not fun putting it back in. I had to be extremely carefull and I still cracked it just a little bit right above the gauge cluster. I'm still waiting for the rest of the pieces to get painted. I can't wait to have it all done.

[1badgmc]

Looks good.

[nebraskaz71]

Looks awesome but man o man am I glad i decided against doing that, that looks like a bitch of an install.

[heavrolet9894]

It's not that bad to install. I would recommend to anyone planning on doing it to go ahead and remove the front seats and the complete steering column. Thanks for the good comments guys.

[95 SCSB]

i got all the vents out and other doodads and im at the point where i have to pull the dash. how does it come out? i removed all the screws that i could see. does the dash hinge forward? or does the knee bar, (the metal bar thats under the steering column that runs from side to side) have to be removed? i cant figure it out without breaking anything. got all the other pieces out no problem.

this is being done to a 97 for practice, then pulling the dash i really need in a 95 later on.

thanks for the help!

[nebraskaz71]

how did u paint the rubberish/plastic panel that covers passenger side airbag.

[Vortec356]

how did u paint the rubberish/plastic panel that covers passenger side airbag.

The painter most likely used a flex additive so it wouldnt crack.

[heavrolet9894]

Actually, he just sanded it down, primed it, and painted it like everything else.

[Vortec356]

Really? Hopefully nobody will hit it or bend it any way. The paint might have a chance to crack.. Other then that it looks great! :cool:

[nebraskaz71]

I couldnt even get mine off but i figured it'd bend to much to paint.

[fceja818]

Question how did you take out the Dash without removing the steering column........im like mmmmmmmmmmmm I don't know

Frank.

[chillman88]

How many bolts hold in that passenger air bag? are they accessible without pulling the dash?
Thanks!!!

[nebraskaz71]

I couldnt figure out how to get mine out when i tried.

[jjj091284]

im new to this site and im not to literate as far as what "glassin" and some of the other terms are that i saw. i have a huge split staight down the center of my dash and i cant seem to find one anywhere either, could anyone help me to either repair it or to find a new or used one?!

[2DTahoe97]

The dash came out great..... I was thinking of painting my whole interior black and keeping the texture but now looking at your smith dash it makes me want to do mine smoth also.