need to do one on my truck NOT looking forward to it. I looked it up in Mitchell, I think it was something like 5-1/2 hours. On a rust free truck. for someone who has already done a few. so I'm expecting an actual 8+ hour trudge....
what are the tricks and shortcuts? No Butchery please.

 

Take your time have patience
Two people makes it easy
Replace everything you can you only want to do this once if a vacuum box always replace the fan
buy quality parts that fit
Be careful some plastic parts snap easy and are no longer available
be ready to replace any bad foam seals with weather stripping or duct tap
Electrical wiring from radios and such can create problems
almost everything in the box except the fan, heater core and Evaporator is no longer available

that's all I can remember

Forgot this most after market heater cores you must cut off a tab in the box for it to fit they are fatter than the OEM core

 

It should be the tab in the Pic but use my info at your risk look and decide this is for the vacuum controlled HVAC box's.

 

Ive done heater cores before just not on one of these trucks..... did 2 square body Dakotas on back to back Saturdays a couple years ago.