First let me say that I love my Red 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 and have no intention of selling or trading it. This past year I started seeing cracks appearing at several places on my dash board top and a couple of cracks starting down around the instrument panel which were basically continuations of the dash cracks. Then I Googled the problem and discovered that many others were having this same problem mostly with the 2001 model year. This is obviously a manufacturing defect but Dodge is denying that.
Ok here's a fix that works and what I have done:
Clean the dashboard around the full length of the cracks with a solvent. Make sure it's dry before continuing.
Use a medium grit sandpaper (about 80 grit or so) and rough up the surface over and around the full length of the crack.
Go to your local hardware store (ACE carries this) and get the PC11 Marine Epoxy. It comes in 2 cans, (PC-11A) white paste and (PC-11B) green hardener. I got the small cans (12 oz).
Also get for a can of Krylon Black Metallic Hammered (#2915) spray paint. For those dashes that are a dark or medium gray this is a near perfect match.
Using 2 separate sticks (I broke a wooden paint stir stick in half) and a piece of cardboard, scoop out an equal glob of the 2 parts of the epoxy onto the cardboard and then mix them together stirring until it is all white with no bits of green showing.
Then using a small spatula (no more than 1" wide), trowel the epoxy over the cracks. Using the flat side of the spatula, make sure that you apply enough pressure to squeeze some epoxy into the crack as well as covering the crack (about an inch wide). Do not cover the cracks with a thick coating of epoxy. Keep it thin. If the the crack is not even, i.e., doesn't line up, use something to hold it in place like masking tape or a weight, etc. Trowel around the tape or weight. You can always go back and finish after the epoxy is dried and hard.
When finished, let it dry over night. In the morning it will be hard as a rock. Use sandpaper to smooth it out and remove any rough edges of epoxy. By the way, it will be white when it dries.
Finally, tape newspaper to the inside of the windshield and any areas you do not want paint (like over lettering, nearby knobs, etc. Then shake the paint and spray over all the epoxied surfaces. Let it dry. The paint blends very close to the dash color.
You can leave it like this OR you can get one of the hard molded dash covers to cover the dash. The epoxy stops all cracking in the damaged areas and the dash will now be stronger than before. The dash cover will only be cosmetic now as the original dash after epoxied will be extremely solid.
That's it! It works and will prevent your dashing from crashing and collapsing. It took me less than an hour to fix mine. This is a lot better than paying the "big bucks" to replace the dash.
If you expect a vehicle to never have any problems, you're living in a dream world.
I certainly don't expect anything to last forever, but I do expect it to last for it's intended useful life.
I had a 1995 Toyota Tacoma that I sold last month to buy my (new to me) 2000 Dodge Ram 2500. In all the years I owned the Tacoma, nothing broke, and I mean NOTHING! All I ever did to that truck was change the oil. It was bullet proof and it was a 14 year old truck.
Then I bought the Dodge. The dash was cracked when I bought it and within a month big chunks just starting falling off. Pathetic. I will never own another Dodge. And to think since 1989 all I ever wanted was a Cummins. 20 years later I finally got the Cummins I wanted, and guess what? With only 73K miles, it leaks oil all over my driveway. Pathetic. I should have never sold the Tacoma. What a mistake!
I certainly don't expect anything to last forever, but I do expect it to last for it's intended useful life.
I had a 1995 Toyota Tacoma that I sold last month to buy my (new to me) 2000 Dodge Ram 2500. In all the years I owned the Tacoma, nothing broke, and I mean NOTHING! All I ever did to that truck was change the oil. It was bullet proof and it was a 14 year old truck.
Then I bought the Dodge. The dash was cracked when I bought it and within a month big chunks just starting falling off. Pathetic. I will never own another Dodge. And to think since 1989 all I ever wanted was a Cummins. 20 years later I finally got the Cummins I wanted, and guess what? With only 73K miles, it leaks oil all over my driveway. Pathetic. I should have never sold the Tacoma. What a mistake!
Ehh, new Toyota trucks are POS. The dash on teh dodge however is a bad thing, but should derail you from buying another one. I have a 2000 dodge 1550 with a perfect dash. Some do some don't. Same with any truck, some have issues some don't.
LMC truck sells a replacement dash for $175-250.
Last edited by CappinHoff; 06-08-2009 at 05:52 PM.
its funny my 97 dodge rams dash is all cracked to pieces.....and then i have a 1988 izuzu trooper, A HUGE RUST BUCKET..sits in sun all day and Dash looks almost new =) (Exept some dust)
Out of nowhere my dashboard just started cracking on my 2001 Ram 1500. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Maybe someone with similar experience can advise me on how to repair it without spending $360 at the dealership for the part and $500 for labor. Yeah I know I can get a dash mat but I don't want one. I also do not think I should have to pay for the dash or the labor. This truck is only four years old, and the dashboard is not even discolored from the sun yet. I'm actually looking for people with similar problems (and similar year truck) so that we can get dodge(Daimler/Chrysler) to put a recall on it. I love my truck, and I love getting it muddy but I am very disappointed in the dashboard.[:@]
Hey guys. I posted this fix back in March. Search username ILOVEMYTRUCK99.
But here is the fix. You can do it yourself and it works. Best if you do it before your dash board cracks in half:
First let me say that I love my Red 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 and have no intention of selling or trading it. This past year I started seeing cracks appearing at several places on my dash board top and a couple of cracks starting down around the instrument panel which were basically continuations of the dash cracks. Then I Googled the problem and discovered that many others were having this same problem mostly with the 2001 model year. This is obviously a manufacturing defect but Dodge is denying that.
Ok here's a fix that works and what I have done:
Clean the dashboard around the full length of the cracks with a solvent. Make sure it's dry before continuing.
Use a medium grit sandpaper (about 80 grit or so) and rough up the surface over and around the full length of the cracks.
Go to your local hardware store (ACE carries this) and get the PC11 Marine Epoxy. It comes in 2 cans, (PC-11A) white paste and (PC-11B) green hardener. I got the small cans (12 oz).
Also get for a can of Krylon Black Metallic Hammered (#2915) spray paint. For those dashes that are a dark or medium gray this is a near perfect match.
Using 2 separate sticks (I broke a wooden paint stir stick in half) and a piece of cardboard, scoop out an equal glob of the 2 parts of the epoxy onto the cardboard and then mix them together stirring until it is all white with no bits of green showing.
Then using a small spatula (no more than 1" wide), trowel the epoxy over the cracks. Using the flat side of the spatula, make sure that you apply enough pressure to squeeze some epoxy into the crack as well as covering the crack (about an inch wide). Do not cover the cracks with a thick coating of epoxy. Keep it thin. If the the crack is not even, i.e., doesn't line up, use something to hold it in place like masking tape or a weight, etc. Trowel around the tape or weight. You can always go back and finish after the epoxy is dried and hard.
When finished, let it dry over night. In the morning it will be hard as a rock. Use sandpaper to smooth it out and remove any rough edges of epoxy. By the way, it will be white when it dries.
Finally, tape newspaper to the inside of the windshield and any areas you do not want paint (like over lettering, nearby knobs, etc. Then shake the paint and spray over all the epoxied surfaces. Let it dry. The paint blends very close to the dash color.
You can leave it like this OR you can get one of the hard molded dash covers to cover the dash. The epoxy stops all cracking in the damaged areas and the dash will now be stronger than before. The dash cover will only be cosmetic now as the original dash after epoxied will be extremely solid.
That's it! It works and will prevent your dashing from crashing and collapsing. It took me less than an hour to fix mine. This is a lot better than paying the "big bucks" to replace the dash.
Here's a quick and easy fix for dash cracks
