removing dash

[dusterbd13]

ive gotta pull the dash from my 89 work truck. got a short somehwere in there thats letting my accessories run with the ignition off and the key out. figure its a short because i can get it to turn off the accessories by kicking the dash.

so, looking at it, lookis like ive gotta pull the kick panels, a-pillar trim, steering column, drop the release cables for the hood and parking brake, pull the two bolts under the kick panels, and the two screws up at the defroster vents.

what else will i need to disconnect/remove? any how-to's or pointers on doing this? looking to tackle it next week in the warm weather.

thanks
michael

[someotherguy]

Unless there's some seriously hacked wiring in the dash, I'd be more likely to suspect the ignition switch itself - not the mechanical portion where the key goes, but the electronic switch further down the column closer to the firewall.

If you want to pull the dash, you have the idea pretty well solid but you don't need to remove the steering column, A pillars, hood and park brake release. You do need to drop the column by simply removing the two 15mm nuts.

There are three screws across the defrost vent area, not two. And there's one more on each side under the speaker grille.

When you get all that stuff loose, do the bolt under the dash at each end last; the dash support bracing is designed to allow tilting the dash forward about 45 degrees without removing it. The studs you see sticking out of either kick panel sheetmetal are the swivel points for it. It gives you pretty much the room you need to access the wiring to a reasonable degree; if it's not enough, then you can lift the dash up off the studs at that point and lay it down on the floor. Takes a bit more work to free it completely from the harness.

Richard