95 and up dash removal?? i need help

[chevydriver5k5]

i finally got a beater so im stipping the interior of my chevy to work on it. i have taken out the gauges radio AC gauges glove box and everything else that came out pretty easy but i cant get the big section on top out. anyone taken apart the entire dash to paint it or whatever and knows how to do thi??? any help would be great. thanks

[99Z71Hoe]

The knee bolster (sp?) trim panel. (4 screws along the bottom, and clipped at the top)
Metal knee bolster support behind the trim panel. (4 bolts)
Steering column. (4 bolts with 1 piece of support tubing)
Ash tray (mine had 4 black clips)

Main dash, 3 screws by the windshield, 2 vertical bolts by the kick panels, and 1 or 2 bolts at the bottom of the dash. The whole dash hinges on the main piece of tubing at the bottom of the dash, so just follow it to make sure no bolts are holding the dash to the tube.

[oldred95]

Knee bolster? You mean the lower portion of the dash that goes from the drivers side to the ash tray? My dash is bouncing around like a mofo and its gettin on my nerves.

[99Z71Hoe]

Knee bolster? You mean the lower portion of the dash that goes from the drivers side to the ash tray? My dash is bouncing around like a mofo and its gettin on my nerves.

Yeah. Is your whole dash moving, or just the lower section? If the whole dash is moving check the 3 screws at the windshield, and the 2 bolts at the kick panels.

[oldred95]

The whole dash is moving, mainly the right side. The screws on the top are tight but the plastic is broken like all the 95's are. One of these days I'm gonna get crafty and make some fancy wooden blocks to hold the stupid thing down but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Does the passengers side kick panel pull off just like the drivers side?

[99Z71Hoe]

The whole dash is moving, mainly the right side. The screws on the top are tight but the plastic is broken like all the 95's are. One of these days I'm gonna get crafty and make some fancy wooden blocks to hold the stupid thing down but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Does the passengers side kick panel pull off just like the drivers side?

I am not sure if the kick panel trim has to come off to get to the bolt that holds the dash in place. If so it just pulls off (unclips). If the dash is cracked at the windshield, it could be cracked at the hinge as well. The bolt drives up into the support hinge so it could have backed out over time, but I would check that to make sure its snug.

[oldred95]

I think I can find them all. So the whole dash pivots on the metal tube that runs along the bottom of the dash? Are the 97's and newer the same way? I looked under the dash of a 2000 ton OBS and it didn't have the tube and there was about a third of the wiring there is under the dash of my truck.

[99Z71Hoe]

I think I can find them all. So the whole dash pivots on the metal tube that runs along the bottom of the dash? Are the 97's and newer the same way? I looked under the dash of a 2000 ton OBS and it didn't have the tube and there was about a third of the wiring there is under the dash of my truck.

Sort of, that tube is just a support for the dash. If you follow the tube to the doors you will see where it connects to a bracket. That bracket sits on a pin. If you remove the 2 bolts from the bracket that the tube connects to the dash will swivel/fold foward to provide access behind the dash panel if all the other bolts/faseners are removed.

You have to take into consideration all this information apply's to the dash in my 99 2 door Tahoe. If Chevy knew there was a problem in the 95 dash's with cracking at the windshield, they might have changed the mounting points. I have never messed around with a 95 dash so there could be a few differences. But I am sure someone with a 95 will chime in.

[oldred95]

I looked and saw one bolt at each end of the tube and they were both tight. I got to looking and pushing up on the dash and it seems that all the movement is because of the plastic being broken around the three screws by the windshield. So now I've got to make some sort of nice looking brace/bracket to go up there. I was thinking about making one long piece of wood go across there but I realized that would be blocking off the defroster vents. Over thanksgiving break I'm gonna try and trace the whole defroster area out on paper and try making something when school starts back up on monday. If I get something decent looking made I'll post up pictures but it may be a while.

[chevydriver5k5]

ok thanks for the help.
it looks like the top part of the dash is like connected to that metal bar how do i get those apart?

[Grunmn]

man somebody should just take pictures step by step as they took there dash off. I mean people ask enough about how to remove there dash's. Also it is nice to have a visual on what screws and bolts to undo. that'd be way cool... actually anyone know if those chilton manuals tell you how to remove the dash?

[99Z71Hoe]

man somebody should just take pictures step by step as they took there dash off. I mean people ask enough about how to remove there dash's. Also it is nice to have a visual on what screws and bolts to undo. that'd be way cool... actually anyone know if those chilton manuals tell you how to remove the dash?

I wish I had done a step by step when I pulled mine but got ahead of myself and just did it. I have a set of FSM's for my Tahoe that did a pretty good job walking me through it.

[chevydriver5k5]

chiltons doesnt or at least the one i have doesnt. its just basic stuff like how to remove the oil drain plug.