A complete waste of time..

[Quick]

I thought since one of the bulbs in my dash was out I would replace it. So I start pulling apart my dash.. no problem.

Now, I'm stuck. Not sure what to do. I get my manual out and it says pretty much that I have to take the whole front end dash out to replace a $&#*@&( bulb. So, being that I don't have 10-11 hours to spare I had to put together the dash again.

I hope I can find someone to pay to do it, but I can't.

 

[Perry]

Mark,
If you lived closer I would be more then happy to help you with it.
Bring it out to Moab and we can fix it before or after.

 

[Stephen S]

Hey Quick, sorry to hear about your trouble with your dash. I know our trucks are a little different, but if you're dying to fix it, (I couldn't stand the burned bulbs anymore), I just changed all of mine a couple of weeks ago. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help.

 

[2mrchio]

I'll speak to you about it when you stop by tonight.

 

[F'in Bob]

Keep us updated on changing the lights on the dash. I have one burnt out right behind my tach and it bugs me...

 

[SteveVB]

Change them all

I would change all of the bulbs while your in there since it takes so much time to get to them. Just a thought.

Good Luck

 

[Brian8]

I also changed the bulbs in my dash not to long ago and man what a pain in the @$$ of a time I had doing mine. I would suggest to change all of them if you are going to go ahead and take another whack at it.

 

[JDraper]

I found a way to do it without ripping your dash out
Go out and buy yourself a short length of thin wall plastic tubing (clear works best so you can sort of see what your are doing. I used a leftover piece from my water softener drain hose) that the bulb will slip into snugly. Once you get the clear cover off of the dash, use a small screwdriver to turn the locking mechanism at the base of the bulb. Once you do that, push the tubing down over the bulb and remove it. To put a new one in, push the bulb into the end of the tube and seat it in the housing. Then either use the screwdriver to push the lock in place, or push a wooden dowel down the tube to hold the bulb in place while removing the tube, and then use the screwdriver to put the lock back in place.

Sure beats ripping the dash out!

 

[Perry]

F'in Bob
If it really bugs you that much, maybe we could get together and I could help you with it.
If you come up this way bring the wife and maybe we could all go out and eat afterwards. I say to come up here since all my tools are here.
Just a thought.

 

[kebber]

I've had my dash out (couple of times!)

Keep your head up man, its not that big of a deal really, just takes some patience thats all. I had mine out and checked all the bulbs and cleaned all the contacts and totally dismantled the gauge cluster to clean it. I had it out to lube the speedo cable and decided that it was a good time to do it. The hardest thing is to get the harness and the speedo cable disconnected from the cluster. I'm blessed with skinny longer fingers which come in handy for just such a thing! Ever make to South Bend IN, I live just across the stateline in MI. E-mail me if I can help you out in anyway.