I currently have a 1996 Ram busted completely busted dash. Want to put in a 1998 dash. I have read that lighting and a/c controls are different as well as obdi. Can these items and wiring from old be put in new dash unit. Looks exactly the same except fir cup holder and a/c vents. Would prefer the 98 due to placement of cup holders?

 

The electronics are completely different. You would need to replace your entire wiring harness to make the 98 components work properly. I think the instrument cluster is a different shape as well..... That would be easy enough to check.

 

figured I would use the wiring harness fro the 1996 dash in the 1998 dash and use the 1996 components. All are the same size and dimension just different connections.

 

O/D off button is in a different location, and I think the 98 dash has a passenger airbag as well, doesn't it? The O/D switch is just a momentary switch, easy to work around, and just leaving the passenger side air bag disconnected would work fine. If the clusters will actually interchange, aside from the connectors, and you can actually mount the connectors, so they.... connect.... Probably work just fine. The HVAC controls may be interesting.... but, it think they work the same way as the older version. Blend door is still cable controlled in 98, everything else is vacuum.

 

Clusters won't work. 94-96 have those little windows on the bottom on each side (4wd, ABS lights, etc) that the 98 and up don't have

 

By all the powers in the universe DO NOT TRY TO SWIPE THEM OUT ,you will regret the day you ever saw a dashboard . Take it from me the engineers did just enough changes that they cannot be swapped out,they may look the same but they are not . THINGS are just enough different that it wont work unless you have piles of money to **** away , along with your sanity

 

I spent a month trying to do what you're thinking of doing ,I kicked my *** everyday, and if anyone talked to me the way my inner child did, they would be chopped in to small pieces and slathered in tabasco sauce and thrown on the grill .please, please, please don't do it...............

 

I don't know about the wiring, etc. but unless you already have a 98 dash ready to go, and provided this would actually work, get a 99+ dash as Dodge improved it one year later (98 is a unicorn year). The airbag switch is moved to allow for a storage cubby, the cig lighter was moved, the odometer went green LCD, and the headlight switch was upgraded to rotary. Otherwise they look the same.