2002 upper dash removal

[oldred95]

My dad had the upper dash replaced on his truck due to it peeling. The dealer has tried it three times to get the dash to fit right up around the bottom of the windshield and we finally gave up on them. He wants to try taking it out himself and get it popped down it place likes its supposed to be. I know the dash bezel will need to come off but what else is involved in taking it off?

[oldred95]

Anybody? All I need to know is if there are any little hidden clips or crap like that.

[vhato]

My old NBS did that. Pi$$ed me off bad. Anyway, it is hard for me to remember, but first you gotta remove both passenger side air vents. Those come out by turning them towards each other to unlock them, then pull. Now the passenger dash board handle can come out. Look inside the dash's A/C vents that you removed to see a white clip that hold the bar in place. Grabd a flat blade screwdriver and put pressure on the white clip in both vents (1 at a time) and the bar should pull right out. Remove the dash bezel or whatever it is called that goes around the front of the drivers side. You may need to lower your steering wheel. This "should" reveal the clips that hold the upper piece in place. Just lift up. The hardest part is making sure the light sensor at the front doesn't dislodge and fall into the dash. Mine did and trying to find it in the little spaces with the windshield in the way was a pain. Whole thing, including the falling sensor took me about 20 minutes.

Hope this helps.

[oldred95]

I will have to give that a try this weekend. Thanks a lot for the info.

[RatAttack]

only tools you'll need are a 7mm nut driver and a phillips screw driver.....phillips screws are under the triangle shaped covers on the sides of the dash and the 7mm's are under the instrument cluster surround....besides that what vhato said is pretty much it.....oh yeah take the A-piller trim off too.....the front of the upper panel actually has metal tabs that slide foreward into slots at the windshield base....sounds like they didn't get them all into thier slots

oh and one more thing.....no harsh cleaners or chemicals on the new one....armourall will make the damn things peel real fast.....buy a non-silicone based product for your interior, it will love you for it :)

[oldred95]

Damn its a good thing you said that. He hasn't armoralled it yet but I've been after him to. Good good thing you said that. I armorall the hell out of my interior but its a lot better quality paint on the plastic to. We've got more damn tools then you can shake a stick at so thats not a problem. Thanks a million for your help guys.