When Neighbor Mechanic was over this morning looking at my steering issues, we looked at the HVAC problems also. It blows freezing cold or Hades hot, no in-between. I plugged the broken cruise control line to make sure that vacuum leak wasn't causing the bleed door diaphragm to not have enough vacuum.

Since the dash top and instrument bezel were already loose, and showing massive amounts of clear silicone caulk around the edges, I carefully lifted the top off. It appears that skins were glued to the remaining original dashboard. I found a number of broken pieces down inside the dash, some with the caulk and some with no adhesive on them. I'm guessing that this is a common method of hiding the broken dash?

Now I understand the difference in the two dash tops and bezels, p.57 and p.59, in the LMC catalog. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that there is enough of the original dash left to attach a new pad and bezel to. See pictures. When my wife sees it, there's going to be a massive aero-fecal interface blowing in my direction.




loose parts from inside dash not attached to anything

I'm surprised no one has made metal dashs to mount your instruments and controls to.

 

Having done a new dash top to mine I can tell you there is plenty of dash left to install one. The bezel doesn't support or hold any of the dash together and there looks to be enough mounting points along the bottom and sides to install one. You might need to use some double sided tape or something along those lines for the top edge, but it will mount and look better than what you have. Be very careful removing the rest of the top so as not to damage any mounting points.

 

Mounting points are gone, You need a new dash and not a dash cover(band aid). LMC has them but this place guarantees them for life.
https://www.dashcover.com/replacementdodge.html

 

I got a skin from this company years ago as a temporary fix for mine before I did a full dash rebuild.

I picked up in person… the place was well kept and staff attentive.
The product was good.

When I did the full dash rebuild I used LMC as they were less $$ even with shipping (at that time).

 

Watched LMC video of dash top replacement. Is this a one-man job?

Picked up various pieces of thin sheetmetal the other day from a scarp pile that I can make a bracket to hold HVAC control, and maybe fix some other broken bits.

DashCover looked good, but lifetime replacement is a matter of perspective and timing. My current lifetime is likely different than yours.

 

One person can do it, but, a second warm body makes the job a LOT easier.

 

I just replaced my Dash. Not just the cap, which i got from LMC, but the ENTIRE dash. Actually, the Entire interior. I did some videos on it, more to come. If you have to pull the dash, it's definitely a 2 man job. That dash is super heavy. But the cap it's self is easy. 2 bolts on the kick panel and 5 screws up top. Then tilt steering down and lean dash back.
I wish I would have done more of a 'how-to' on my youtube, but figured this was such a common issue that there is probably 100 videos of it already out their.

 

I told my neighbor I would pay him to help me. He agreed, said we will do it at his house bc he has the needed tools.

Checked with LMC today, expecting back-ordered pads in two to three weeks.

 

Installed the dash pad and bezel yesterday 7/10 with the help of my mechanic neighbor. After dashboard assembly had been removed to replace bad AC evaporator and heater core "while you're at it," there was even more of the underlying structure was damaged, thus less to work with. See "decisions, decisions" 6/24/22 post for the gruesome/sordid details.

In a procedure akin to the process of making sausage, as the saying goes, "you don't want to watch it being made, but the end result tastes good", we pieced together the structure enough to hold the dash pad and bezel. Took us eleven hours from pulling into his garage to picking up dash crumbs from his garage floor before I left.

Wife was pleased with the new appearance.

Under "what did you do with your Dodge truck today," I filled a 55-gal trash bag with broken shards and the old glue-on covers and packing materials, and along with the cartons the parts were shipped in, it was off to the trash drop-off to put a . (period) at the end of this particular project. Well, after I vacuum the carpet.


When glue-on cover was removed; before trip to shop for HVAC repairs

When glue-on cover was removed; before trip to shop for HVAC repairs

New dash pad and bezel

New dash pad and bezel

 

Wow, that turned out REALLY nice. Even the color match is correct. Color me impressed. Wanna do mine next?