Ok, so I asked about this ages ago on the cracked dash poll and nobody knew much about them. When mine cracked, it really went crazy. I could not stand the look of it and with the price of a new dash I decided to go with the ABS Dash Skin from www.dashskin.com for $249.99. I could have purchased it for $229.99 if I had chosen the unpainted one, but with it being so cold I decided to pay them to paint it. On with the "How to" and my over all critique can be found at the bottom.

The tools used.
Isopropyl Alcohol
Glass Cleaner
Trim tools (nice but not needed)
Masking tape
Paper Towels
Zip Tie (you might not need it)
6mm Socket and 1/4 Ratchet
Phillips Screwdriver
Angle Cutters (Dikes)
Sand Paper
Silicone sealant (not shown but provided with dash skin)


Before pictures of my dash






The first step was to remove the front panel, the side closest to you pops straight up, where you see the gray felt. Once the rear is popped up the front clips release by pulling the panel towards the rear of the truck, the ones that release towards the rear are the ones with the red felt.

The instructions said to remove any broken pieces to eliminate rattles. When I did this, the piece I removed also supported some of the ducting. There was a screw where you see the Green and Yellow marks that went up into the bottom of the dash. Since it would no longer be supported by the screw I found a place to zip tie it so it would not rattle.


Next you will have to start removing the trim. You will need to remove the two screws located in the trim above the instrument panel.

There is one additional screw to remove right above the bag hook in the center stack. Once it is removed you just pop the panel out. You can also see the two screws I removed from the left side of the passenger side air bag panel. Once they were removed I used the trim tool to peal out the edge of the airbag pad. Refer to FSM for airbag safety.


The end trim just pops right out.

Again, pop out the end piece and the light/vent panel.

Here is the new skin

Test fit


The items needed just a little prep/cleanup prior to install. I took a razor blade and cleaned up the molding.

The top is the skin and the bottom is the original, you can see some of the differences but would probably go unnoticed to all but the trained eye once installed.

Here you can see where I sanded around the vents and approx one inch from the edges.

Warning of where to put the silicone

Once the area was sanded everywhere the silicone would be placed, the area was cleaned with glass cleaner then I went back over it with alcohol. The instructions said to put the silicone around one inch from the edge and around all vents about the thickness of a pencil.

I used tape and random weights to make sure it was firmly squeezed together.

After both the dash and the skin were prepped I applied the silicone to the bottom of the skin and slid it on. I used paper towels and cardboard from the box in came in to apply pressure for curing.

Tape alone did not seem to be strong enough to hold the edges so I used some Vise Grips.


Over all fit and finish is pretty good considering the time/price difference between a skin and replacing the dash. From either seat with the door closed it is very very hard to tell, once you start poking around closer you will see imperfections.



You can see a small seam just to the left of the radio

All Finished






I am a very picky person when it comes to my vehicles and so far, for the price I am very pleased with this. Yes there are some fitment issues on the edges, but unless you are looking for it I bet you would miss it. If I had to do it again I would have put little felt pieces on the top side of the old dash, I am afraid that it is going to rattle, the old dash against the new skin. I have not driven it yet but I will let you guys know if it does. Hope this helps all the guys looking for an affordable fix for the crappy plastic Ma Mopar stuck in their trucks. Hit me up if you have any questions.

 

looks good. definately let us know if there is any issues with it

 

Looks great. I also installed one of these when my dash basically fell apart and extended the cracks on what was left when I changed out my heater core a few weeks ago I too have the seam and end cap issue. The drivers side end cap looks okay I just can't get the passenger side seated right. I have had mine on for a couple weeks amd have had no issues with rattling.

 

THX for all those pics. Those really tell the whole story by itself. I think it looks a lot better but agree it still could have BEEN better also. Overall i like it

 

Great job and thanks for all the pics!

 

What color did you choose for the caps, your is exactly like mine.

Thanks