removing dash

[dusterbd13]

ive gotta pull the dash from my 89 work truck. got a short somehwere in there thats letting my accessories run with the ignition off and the key out. figure its a short because i can get it to turn off the accessories by kicking the dash.

so, looking at it, lookis like ive gotta pull the kick panels, a-pillar trim, steering column, drop the release cables for the hood and parking brake, pull the two bolts under the kick panels, and the two screws up at the defroster vents.

what else will i need to disconnect/remove? any how-to's or pointers on doing this? looking to tackle it next week in the warm weather.

thanks
michael

 

[lowandloud91]

that dash is pretty simple to remove. You don't need to remove the pillars or the steering column to remove the dash.

Remove the instrument bezel that surrounds your gauges(four allen screws) and disconnect headlight switch once bezel is free
Then you'll see the bolts for you hvac and radio, remove the bolts and unplug components from harness.
The dash is mounted on a small frame
You'll find screws along the bottom, on top in defrost vent and under speaker covers(covers pop out)
And there is at lest one screw on each side near the kick panels

I may have missed a couple things. I can get you pictures proly if needed, while mine is out. But it really is simple, just unscrew and unplug harnesses, the do the reverse on install.

Also just cause you kick your dash(which is kinda funny lol) and it "fixes" the problem temporarily doesn't necessarily mean you need to remove the dash to correct the issue. You can check a lot of things such as fuses, relays, ground wires, etc. without removing the dash. Just something to think about.