replacing 94-97dodge dash top.

replacing 94-97dodge dash top.
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BruisedBollocks says:

THANKS for posting this video. I found it to be very informative &
helpful! 🙂
& Please IGNORE the naysayers who are critical of your not using the
procedure outlined via the factory service manual. While there is nothing
wrong with using the factory manual, sometimes it is more practical for
“weekend mechanics” to use an alternative method that might serve to either
shorten the time required to accomplish the task OR permit the use of
commonly available tools OR allow one person to accomplish the task on a
weekend in their own home garage or driveway. Good to have alternative
methods to choose from! 

BruisedBollocks says:

Question for other owners of mid-90s Dodge RAM 1500 owners who have
replaced their dash top panel:
What is the best source for a replacement panel?
-Dodge OEM part?
-LMC Truck?
-other?
Thanks! :-)

Frank Glover says:

i just went thru all this last week

DEEREMEYER1 says:

Want to avoid cracked Dodge dashes in the first place? Buy a windshield sun
shade and use it. Let your vehicle idle and leave the HVAC system running
if you’re getting out of and then right back into your vehicle in a few
minutes or less instead of shutting it off with the HVAC controls
on. Worried about theft? Have a spare key and lock your keys inside with
the vehicle running. It’s worked for truckers for a LONG time. If you’re
going to be gone long enough for someone to steal it, then shut it off. But
before you DO shut it off, TURN OFF THE HVAC SYSTEM COMPLETELY. And when
you start the engine and turn ON your HVAC system, use the knobs in the
proper order. Your owners manual will TELL you how to operate the system. I
know that being told to read a manual to turn on a heater may sound
insulting, but the system CAN be damaged by improper operation. It is NOT a
simple system and when you operate it incorrectly repeatedly and when it is
directly under and inside your dash and is sending hot and cold air into
and against your dash, the HVAC system will DAMAGE your dash. The A/C or
heater can crack a dash? No way. Right? Wrong. If you don’t think improper
operation has anything to do with the HVAC problems and dash cracks SOME of
you have, you’re mistaken. Because there are a LOT of Dodge pickups out
there that NEVER have an HVAC problem or a cracked dash. I’ve owned two of
them myself. Others are owned by family and close friends and I’ve been in
those pickups countless times. There isn’t a pickup in the bunch with under
175,000 miles, most of them have well over 200,000 and a few are at
300,000+ and EVERY one of them is a farm or ranch pickup that gets USED. My
Grandpa has a 1990 Dodge Cummins truck he bought new and has used on the
farm ever since. He also has a 1998 Dodge Cummins he bought new and has
used on the farm ever since. Total mileage between the two? Probably
550,000 or so. In southeast Nebraska where it can get -10 in the winter and
110 in the summer. Neither dash has a crack and the A/C in the 1990 was
still working the last time I knew. Neither dash has ever been apart. But
then again both he and I and pretty much every other Dodge pickup owner
I know just don’t have the same problems others claim are “automatic”
and “unavoidable”. Maybe it’s because of what we do with our trucks when we
park them. Which is either leave the pickup running and the HVAC system on
OR turn the HVAC system off before shutting of the engine. I think it’s
just ingrained in the heads of farmers and ranchers and equipment operators
to shut everything off when you shut off a machine, but it’s the safe thing
to do for you and your machine. I just bought a 2002 Dodge 2500 and it has
a cracked dash and HVAC problems despite being VERY well maintained, in
GREAT mechanical condition and looking almost new inside and out.
Researching these two problems over the last few days has exposed me to a
whole world of Dodge “flaws” that I never knew existed. I’d never seen a
cracked Dodge dash before I got my “new” 2002. And I’d never heard of the
widespread HVAC problems, either. So I’ve seen 400,000-mile farm trucks
with no HVAC problems and no cracks in the dash. And now I buy a
175,000-mile city truck that’s obviously been pampered and babied and it
has HVAC problems and cracks in the dash. So what is the difference? I
can’t say for certain but I can speculate after having seen the way some
city vehicles are treated and the way a LOT of people on YouTube
complaining about the flaws of their Dodge pickups or showing the “easy
way” or “quick fix” for a problem thing of their vehicles. Which is not at
all UNTIL it breaks. Whether or not THEY broke it through improper
operation doesn’t matter. And fixing it correctly doesn’t matter if that
means fixing their truck is going to cost more than they think it should
cost. Even though their hatchet job isn’t an actual repair and even though
most mechanics would rather NOT deal with the “do it as cheap as you can”
customers, they still think mighty highly of themselves for “fixing”
something cheaper than the dealer can. But back to how most city folks
treat their cars. They run around town in their vehicles making lots of
stops while shopping and running errands and because they live in the city,
every time they park the vehicle they shut off the engine. But because they
were either never trained to shut off the ACCESSORIES or because shutting
off and resetting their HVAC and/or stereo controls every time they get in
or out of their cars, they never shut them off. So what happens when they
jump back in the vehicle and fire it up with the HVAC controls and
components out of their “park” positions and they’re reaching to put the
fan on “high” or crank the temperature control all the way to “hot” or
“cold” before the engine is even running or the control system can run
through whatever start-up tests, calibrations or actions it was designed to
perform in order to function correctly or safely at start-up even if the
controls hadn’t been turned off? The fan kicks on and blows doors shut,
actuators have to shut or open doors against air pressure they weren’t
designed for, electronic components are exposed to moisture from
condensation that wouldn’t be there if the system was operated correctly, a
blast of 20-degree cold air comes in the through the fresh air duct and
hits plastic housings that are still 80 degrees or more, etc etc. What
happens after this occurs hundreds or thousands of times? Things break. The
owner’s manual recommends it and car makers pretty much always have and
there are good reasons for it. Why? Because those doors are not made to
be violently slammed by a blast of air and when they DO slam shut like
that, the excess air HAS to go somewhere. Which means it gets forced out of
gaps in the ductwork or into other parts of the system it’s not supposed to
go to. In a Dodge, the cold or hot air can get blasted out of the module or
ducts and right onto the dash. If the dash is hot and the air is cold or
vice versa and it happens enough times, the dash is GOING to crack
eventually. Just like the air doors or actuators are GOING to fail
eventually if you don’t turn the HVAC system OFF like the manual
recommends. If you do that and you use the knobs in the manner Dodge
intended, which is top to bottom or left to right, your “flawed” Dodge dash
and/or HVAC system will work INDEFINITELY.

DEEREMEYER1 says:

To ANYONE who may have been OFFENDED by my terrible thoughts, idea,
theories, comments and suggestions about the problem of cracked dashes in
Dodge pickups I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE. When I thought that my personal
experience with dozens of late-model Dodge pickups ranging in age from the
late 80s to the late 2000s ALL of which have been exposed to a LOT of
extremes of temperature and weather here in Nebraska all their lives – just
MIGHT give me some insights and ideas that others maybe haven’t thought of
and that might be valuable to them, I was OBVIOUSLY mistaken. What was I
thinking when I speculated that cracked Dodge dashes and failed Dodge HVAC
modules that ALWAYS seem to either exist TOGETHER or NOT AT ALL just MIGHT
be connected. Of COURSE it was asinine of me to suggest that subjecting
your truck and it’s interior components to hundreds of thousands of thermal
shock events by shutting it off a for a few minutes with the HVAC controls
“ON'” instead of turning them off just MIGHT help prevent some of those
issues that some of us don’t have while others do. By all means it was
RIDICULOUS of me to suggest that when you jump in your pickup and fire it
up with the HVAC controls on or you jump in and immediately reach for the
FAN switch first instead of the vent switch and you HEAR air doors banging
against their stops that there just MIGHT be a connection there too. But I
have been humbled by the expert showing us how to replace dash covers. He
has spoken. I know nothing about ’94’97 trucks even though I own one. My
theories about HVAC controls being related to dash cracks are completely
ridiculous even though my ’94 with 315,000 miles and 20 years in western
Nebraska at 4250 feet of elevation in a dry climate that can be 110 in the
summer and 20 in the winter HAS NO DASH CRACKS. While HIS pickup, that came
from TEXAS, DID have a cracked dash. Which proves that I don’t
know ANYTHING about them. The fact that my pickup had the paint and clear
baked off – just like the one in video I’m told – means NOTHING. The fact
that I just bought a 2002 Ram 2500 with 175,000 original miles painted in
flawless original Graphite Metallic and Bright Silver Metallic with a Dark
Gray interior that shows NO FADING AT ALL either INSIDE or OUTSIDE but yet
the truck DOES have a cracked dash AND HVAC problems does NOT mean that the
cracks and HVAC problems MIGHT be related. I’m still waiting for one of the
REAL “experts” here to explain to me how the excessive UV rays that are
cracking all these Dodge dashes are also causing all these HVAC problems
and why I’ve never seen a Dodge pickup with a cracked dash OR major HVAC
problem that I can recall much less BOTH – until I BOUGHT ONE. But
obviously that’s yet MORE proof of how little experience I’ve actually had
with Dodge pickups over the last 25 years. 25 years of owning, driving,
being a passenger in, servicing and repairing Dodge Ram trucks. But then
again, the only repair work I’ve done to them has been SIMPLE stuff like
clutch installations, head gaskets, overhauls, front seals, timing covers,
water pumps, turbo replacements, vacuum pumps, VE and P7100 pump work,
swapping a ’92 Cummins long-block into a ’94 Cummins truck by stripping
the front cover, plate, injection pump etc off the blown-up ’94 and putting
it on the ’92, transmission work, cylinder head studs, fuel system work and
injector replacements on every Cummins from ’90 to ’08, etc etc etc. It’s
not like I’ve ever done anything so complex and technically demanding as
replacing a dash cover. So remember, do NOT take my advice to either leave
your truck idling with the heat or A/C on if possible and if not turn the
HVAC off before you shut the engine off. Because there is NO WAY that
preventing those air doors from slamming shut or open and preventing a big
gulp of hot or cold outside air from shocking your HVAC module on startup
or prevening the actuators from having to work against air pressure is EVER
going to save you repair bills or headaches down the line. Because it
WON’T. Just ask the expert. He’ll tell you.

Robert Pickens says:

Thanks for the video. Just put a new one from LMC truck on my 97 

DEEREMEYER1 says:

It amazes me that people will refuse to buy a factory service manual and
perform repairs the way the vehicle was designed to be repaired even when
it would save them a LOT of headaches in the long run. People absolutely
INSIST on trying to disassemble a Dodge Ram dash INSIDE THE CAB and/or
INSIST on trying to “repair” an HVAC problem WITHOUT removing the module
and then act like it’s Dodge’s fault it’s difficult or impossible to do.
When they built these trucks, they install the HVAC module as an ASSEMBLY.
The DASH is installed as another ASSEMBLY and goes over and around the
module. Then they install the STEERING COLUMN as another ASSEMBLY. And they
install those three assemblies in a handful of MINUTES. The truck can be
DISASSEMBLED for repair in the same way by reversing the procedure. I’ve
seen claims of being able to remove the dash ASSEMBLY in under half an
hour. Then you can disassemble it OUTSIDE the truck the same way it was
ASSEMBLED in the first place. The same goes for the HVAC module. But yet
there are those that will spend 2 or 3 times as long trying to “repair” the
HVAC module without removing the dash or will try to disassemble the module
without removing it from the truck. They usually claim that they didn’t
want to empty the A/C system or drain the coolant. Uh, any repair shop will
be glad to discharge your A/C system for you prior to the repair and then
evacuate and recharge it for you after the repair. And as far as draining
the coolant goes, coolant should be drained and replaced on a regular basis
anyway. But a VERY common complaint from Dodge owners is what a pain in the
ass is it is to replace the heater core. Of course like everything else,
they try to do it the “easy” and “cheap” way by not removing the module. Of
course, if more people would service their cooling system, they wouldn’t
have to replace the heater core in the first place.

Cory Prentice says:

wow thanks dodge…. make it a pain in the ass…

jwhite34 says:

I got everything apart and am finding it impossible to put back together!
Did you install the passenger side first? I need more details on the order
of operations for reinstalling the screws. thx

Janet Langford says:

this aint my shit its dales

ridingadream says:

THANKS FOR THE VIDEO .your tips and techniques are SPOT ON . the flex screw
driver is a must .i would like to add ,keep your swear jar around i filled
mine . note my lower dash was just as dry rotted as my upper dash causing
longer time and more work.

REDPWR4EVR says:

nope, but it’s not even been a year ago. it’s alot easier to just throw a
cover on it like i had but i just couldn’t stand knowing that it was
cracked under the cover.

REDPWR4EVR says:

auto salvage yard, i have another dark gray one if thats what you need.

theRonald511 says:

THANKS FOR YOUR VIDEO

Nick Cross says:

from about 5:00 how would i go about taking out the whole dash

REDPWR4EVR says:

i put all of them in, probably not necessary, but i did.

XerTMomo says:

Did you put all the screws back in or just the easy ones? I had fun at the
junkyard trying to get the newer cover off without breaking the cover. Only
broke one of the holes on the passenger side. I put too much pressure on
the cover trying to get my head in to see the screw.

kev kirby says:

Great video! I have a ’97 that I am going to have to do the same thing on.
Where did you buy your dash?

XerTMomo says:

Did you used the flex screwdriver to put in the hard ones in? By the way .
Great video. I’ve been looking for a video like this for a year. Thanks

Sothrnbluz says:

Dam…!! I was going to replace my ’95 Dodge Ram dash but not now…!!
That’s alot of tedious work and aggravation… btw: Has the replacement
dash cracked yet..??

REDPWR4EVR says:

help from another person and a few wiring harness plugs and a vacuum line
or two and the hot cold control cable.

Rudy Handy says:

wow, i got a 99 dodge ram. Im really contemplating it now. great video
though. defenitely lets people understand the work behind it

0XYM0R0N29 says:

extremely helpful video, thank you

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