Anyone replaced dashboard (not covered)?

[jpilk99]

Wow!

What a job this is. I got a very good condition dash from another '97 and thought I rear/watched video enough to climb in on the job today. What a brutal brutal job. I think I'm over the hump and close to button'ing it up, but, ...WOW. Could Dodge have made it any harder to replace these utterly crappy plastic dashes?

I saw one video where the person got the Entire dashboard loosened/disconnected and leaning forward toward the seat. This seems like the most sane thing to do. Just loosening and trying to get the screws back in on the vents and at the front (toward the seat) screws is ...frustrating. I'm about to give up on getting all screws back in - I believe there's plenty to keep everything where it needs to be.

Yaks! Yaks I say.

 

[Joe w.]

It's not as simple as it seems in the videos. I done mine several years ago.

 

[DodgeLady]

It is tedious. I followed the service manual and took meticulous care not to break things...
It’s a job that’s for sure.
Could they have made it harder... no.


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[Nealuss]

I did mine a couple years ago. It definitely had me questioning my sanity halfway through. The worst thing for me was not breaking the lower dash in the process of installing the new upper. It still broke in a couple of places but it's way better than it was before. I am trying to decide now if I want to find a good used lower dash or wait and attempt a 4th gen dash conversion when it's time to completely redo the interior.

 

[DodgeLady]

I did mine a couple years ago. It definitely had me questioning my sanity halfway through. The worst thing for me was not breaking the lower dash in the process of installing the new upper. It still broke in a couple of places but it's way better than it was before. I am trying to decide now if I want to find a good used lower dash or wait and attempt a 4th gen dash conversion when it's time to completely redo the interior.

I purchased a used lower dash and replaced mine. It came with hairline cracks that I tried to reenforce prior to install. Still had a few but it is a big improvement over what I had. It was pricey - I paid $620 on e-bay for the dash, plus painted it. But overall happy I did it.



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[K29445]

If someplace like LMC or Classic Industries would mass produce entire new dash assemblies, they would sell thousands of them. These trucks will become as collectible as many other classic trucks have become. Prices for Second Gen's is up a lot the past few years. It's really the last generation of truck you can still work on at home and not need an IT guy.