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Hobie

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Side shelf for my tool cart came in today, so since I had my impact driver out, I thought 'what the hell, let's tear the grille off. And for my brush guard friends out there, I would not recommend pulling the grille while the brush guard is still on. I made a few new scratches in what's left of the left side fenders clear coat. So theres that.

But the install went nicely, didnt have to drill any new holes, but I just piggy backed off of the upper bumper valance bolt, and ran my wires underneath it with the factory harness. Then up with the left hand headlight assembly, and along the fender. Once the wires were cut, I spliced them in with more crimps, and then added solder to them, with heat shrink wrap to finish off the connections. I then pulled the harness out, and completely wrapped with this pretty sweet vinyl electrical tape that we get for a couple of recalls, and finally installed for the last time. Will be picking up a mirror on Saturday to try it out, but the probe seems to be working properly.

On another note, LEDs came in today, so denali cluster, HVAC, headlight switch, cargo light, and reverse lights are about to get replaced, along with an upgrade!
 

98chevy2500SS

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I have to pull my grille guard off as well when removing the grille. It's a **** ton harder with it on lol.
 

Hobie

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I have to pull my grille guard off as well when removing the grille. It's a **** ton harder with it on lol.
It can be done, but its definitely not fun. Done the same thing when I pulled my trans, and replaced the A/C system, and I just didnt have a second set of hands. In the future, once new paint is laid on, brush guard will come off anytime the grille needs to come off.
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Also added in the pictures that I couldn't post last night
 

Hobie

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Well, making the trip to st Louis, and then to central Illinois tomorrow, so decided to throw in the LEDs to fix the burnt out halogen bulb . And while the bezel was out, I threw in the 120mph speedometer.
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All the LEDs in correctly the first try! Woot!
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They match my trans gauge much better than what's shown in the picture.
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New reverse lights as well.

Now here comes the issues, the 120mph speedometer seems to be acting like the 100mph speedometer is still in the truck, is this normal? Or did I do something wrong?

And number two, I replaced the cargo light bulbs, as they just dont put out a whole lot of light, and always lugged down the interior lights when on, so I replaced with 921 LED bulbs. They work when you only barely press them into the socket, but a slight bump, and the light falls out. If you press them in all the way, they dont come on, and when the cargo light switch is on, the dome light quits working as well. Anyone ever see this issue before?

But not much else is going on as of now, I have my Kodiak door handles waiting for lock rods, and then they will be installed.
 

98chevy2500SS

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For the speedo, is the speed off by a few miles?

For the cargo light, its not recommended to put LEDs in them since they are fragile, from what I have read.
 

Hobie

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For the speedo, is the speed off by a few miles?

For the cargo light, its not recommended to put LEDs in them since they are fragile, from what I have read.
Well the speedometer acts like there are larger diameter tires on, speedometer reads 40 when GPS says 32, and speedometer reads 75 when gps says 60.

Also, accidentally flipped the cargo light switch when throwing the truck into park, and the interior lights quit working and blew #3 fuse. Flipped the switch off, and replaced the fuse, and it works fine.

Thank you for letting me know they are fragile, I'm at the point that if i break it, I'll replace it, but the aftermarket 3rd brake lights dont have many good recent reviews, seems like all of the good reviews are from several years ago.
 

Hobie

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Also, one thing I just remembered, the PCM is still showing the correct speed, just like if the old 100mph speedometer, and I just compared the two, and the needle moves to the speed of the old speedometer. Did I have to change anything to the 120mph speedometer?
 

kennythewelder

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I had to recal my speedo in my 120 cluster after I replaced the OE 100 MPH cluster in my 97. So I plugged in my Jet tuner and reprogramed the tire size and checked it with waze on my phone. Once the speedo read correct at different speeds, I called that good. If you dont have or want to buy a programer, a trans shop can recal the speedo for you. If you find a shop that will not do this, try another shop. It is a simple recal.
 

kennythewelder

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Also, one thing I just remembered, the PCM is still showing the correct speed, just like if the old 100mph speedometer, and I just compared the two, and the needle moves to the speed of the old speedometer. Did I have to change anything to the 120mph speedometer?
I only replaced the cluster, but had to swap out my stepper motors for my gauges, but only because the ones in the Denali cluster were shot. The swap is a direct plug and play. I was suprised the speedo was off on the Denali cluster when I swapped them out.
 

kennythewelder

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I think my Denali cluster was off 6 MPH or so when I installed it. Keep in mind that the Denali cluster uses a different stepper motor for the speedo, so that may be why, IDK.
 
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