I wish I had gotten a white face guage kit before I did this, cause it would have been soooo easy to do while I was in there. But I can't afford one, so oh well.
Well, to get the dash apart, start by removing the two screws above the climate controls. The black trim that holds the radio just snaps off after the screws are removed. Carefully unsnap the black trim and pull it out a bit (the four wheel drive switch will likely need to be unplugged to allow enough clearance. I don't even have 4x4 but the plug for the switch is there anyway) You don't have to totally remove the radio and trim, just pull it out some.
Then move to under the steering wheel. The plastic cover (where the hood latch is) beneath the steering wheel has a screw on the right corner and one on the left corner. It also has two that hold the hood release on. Remove all four screws and unsnap the top edge to remove the panel.
Under the plastic panel you just removed, there is a metal plate. It has a screw in each corner. These may be tight (mine were) but they'll come loose. Remove all four and the panel will fall off. You should now see one or two screws (mine only had one in it, but there is supposed to be another) holding the bottom of the upper dash panel on. Remove these two.
Now sit in the driver's seat, set the parking brake, put the shifter into 1, and tilt the steering wheel to its lowest position. Remove the three screws just over the guages. There may be a screw that was hidden by the radio trim, look for it and remove it as well.
Now, carefully pull on the dash panel, the radio side first. It's a little tight to get out, but it'll go. You'll soon run into trouble with the headlight and dimmer switch. Their wires are kinda short. You can unplug them if you want, but I left them alone. I just carefully twisted the dash panel over the steering column without binding the wires and set it on my leg.
Now you will see the guage cluster. There are 4 screws holding the cluster in (one per corner). Remove these and carefully work the cluster out. Remove the gear indicator as soon as you can get to its snaps. The cable is really short, which makes it difficult, but with a little patience it'll come out.
If you're just replacing bulbs, you can do so without unplugging the guages. Just twist it to the left and right enough to get your eyes and a pair of pliers behind it. There are 6 illumination bulbs. Their sockets are the black ones, the largest of them all back there. Just twist them to the left and they unsnap and can be removed.
If you wanna clean your guages (mine were dusty) or if you are installing a guage kit, you'll want to remove the clear cover. You may want to unplug the cluster and remove it from the truck to install a guage kit. The cover is held on by the 7 gold colored screws around the cluster. Remove them all and the cover will come off. Be carefull with the needles!!
Assembly is the reverse.
Hope this helps you out.
. so did you put brighter bulbs back behind there or just ford replacements?
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