Pulling the dash

[someotherguy]

I had one that was cracked all along the vent slats and had the break-through at the center screw hole. I reinforced the screw hole on the back side using a piece of plumber's strap, and across all the cracked vent slats with mechanic's wire. Both were attached using Devcon Plastic Welder glue which is awesome stuff, does not get brittle as it hardens. That dash lived through the very rough ride of being in a 3500HD wrecker running 19.5's with 90psi in 'em...

May not be a viable solution for everyone depending on dash condition but it was a practically invisible repair.

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After color-matching a bunch of pieces using SEM

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Richard

 

[tahoe.mkIII]

LMC dash pad reinforcement kit part# 39-2446

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Also. In the 4-5 times I've pulled a dash out of these(95-00) trucks I have never drilled a rivet(s) for dash removal/swap. First time I pulled the wiring and ductwork out with the dash, since then I have found it much easier to seperate the wiring/ductwork from the dash prior to removal.

 

[koolbreeze]

Ok, yes, I'd saw that reinforcement kit in another thread here and was planning to order it. My dash isn't too bad yet, but it may get worse when I pull it.

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So what's the deal with the rivets? Can you leave them in and remove the metal bar/brace with the dash?

Thanks for the repair tips, Richard. I wandered what type of epoxy/glue to try to use on the dash. I may try repairing the dash first, if it doesn't shatter when I take it out.

 

[east302]

So what's the deal with the rivets? Can you leave them in and remove the metal bar/brace with the dash?

I didn’t have to drill out any rivets in mine and the bars stayed attached to the dash.

 

[someotherguy]

Thanks for the repair tips, Richard. I wandered what type of epoxy/glue to try to use on the dash. I may try repairing the dash first, if it doesn't shatter when I take it out.

Oh yeah. Clean it really well on the backside, any kind of mild degreaser (non-solvent type) like TSP or TSP substitute you can get from the hardware store. Rough up the plastic, apply that Devcon product, and clamp the split together with some quick clamps. Use some plastic sheet against the glue like a plastic bag so the glue doesn't stick to your clamp jaws. On the really big splits you might consider cutting a piece of scrap plastic to use like a bandage, glue the crap out of it.

Richard

 

[koolbreeze]

I got it done, finally. No telling how long it took me. Worked on it on and off for 3 days. Think I could do it much faster if I ever had to do it again though. I didn't end up taking the dash completely out. I just got the harness loose enough from it that I could sit the dash on the bench seat, which allowed me room to pull the HVAC box.

I did pull the steering column though. That made things much easier and was only 1 more bolt as opposed to lowering it.

One of the worst parts was getting the wiring harness loose. Took me a while to figure out how to get the duct loose from the dash. Mine has 2 screws (one at either ends) and then a push type clip in the middle which is what took me a while to find.

I order all 3 doors/flaps for the air distributor as well. They needed replacing badly. The rubber around the edges had turned to a sticky, guey mess and they were falling apart. But I like to have never gotten one of the aluminum arms off one of the doors, so I could get it out. I ended up knocking it off with a hammer and punch. I kicked myself for not just ordering the entire assembly, which is available.

I also replace the inlet and temp door actuators, since they are difficult to do with the dash in.

If I ever need to do it again, I'll most likely try pushing the harness through the firewall.

Once I had the evaporator core out, the problem was obvious. I had broken the whole top side of the pipe that goes to the accumulator loose from the evaporator trying to get the two separated. Oh well, she blows cold now.

BTW, I used the plastic weld recommended by Richard above on the cracks. Worked great and I didn't do any further damage getting it out. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[east302]

Do you think that the bottom air door (right above the transmission hump) can be replaced from below, without fooling with the dash? I can’t see, how does the rod attach to the door?

The seal on mine is coming apart, starting to leak air to the floor vents.

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[koolbreeze]

Do you think that the bottom air door (right above the transmission hump) can be replaced from below, without fooling with the dash? I can’t see, how does the rod attach to the door?

The seal on mine is coming apart, starting to leak air to the floor vents.

Unfortunately, I don't see any way you could replace it without at least pivoting the dash. That portion of the HVAC box is in 3 pieces; the air distributor (on top), middle section and a cover that is removed from the bottom. The door in your photo is in middle section but you have to remove the air distributor to get it out. The door just lays down in a slot. The door is held in place by the actuator. You can't remove the middle section from the bottom because it slides into a grove on section that contains the evaporator from the top.

The air distributor is held on to the middle section by 4 snap on clips. Two of the clips are on the back side next to the firewall. I kind of doubt there is enough room to get them off/on without removing the HVAC box.

My guess is the doors in the air distributor need replacing also. You can get the air distributor from gmpartsdirect, amazon and other places. Some of the images I see of it online show it with the 2 doors it contains already installed. I'm not sure if it comes with them or not. But I like I said above, they have these 2 aluminum arms pressed onto them and I like to have never gotten one of them off. The other one just slid right off. You can buy those on amazon also but they are not shown in the exploded view at gmpartsdirect.com. Here are a couple links:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GV86TX2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-GM-5...=UTF8&qid=1533664971&sr=1-1&keywords=52487132

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GV8VIXI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

I'll post some photos in a bit.

 

[someotherguy]

Happy to help. Glad the Devcon worked. It's a tough spot to patch and nothing can work miracles, but that stuff is pretty close. I think the first time I used it was on an '83 BMW 635csi that had broken A/C slider controls. They're the cable pull style and someone had forced the controls out of the dash and broken where the screws mount. I patched it all up and it withstood the action of those stiff cable actuators without breaking back out of the dash. Besides that '96 dash I patched up for my 3500HD project, I also used it to fix the headlight switch mounts in the bezel on another '94...as well as many other projects.

Richard

 

[kennythewelder]

Happy to help. Glad the Devcon worked. It's a tough spot to patch and nothing can work miracles, but that stuff is pretty close. I think the first time I used it was on an '83 BMW 635csi that had broken A/C slider controls. They're the cable pull style and someone had forced the controls out of the dash and broken where the screws mount. I patched it all up and it withstood the action of those stiff cable actuators without breaking back out of the dash. Besides that '96 dash I patched up for my 3500HD project, I also used it to fix the headlight switch mounts in the bezel on another '94...as well as many other projects.

Richard

Ive been using JB Weld to repair mine. Do you think the Devcon is better ? Ive never heard of it.