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Decided to move my gauges this morning, if you missed the unofficial first part of this, click here, starts at post #7.
I guess I just got tired of where they were, although I liked it at first. Everytime I'd glance in the mirror I'd do a gauge check. With my eye sight not like it used to be, I thought I'd get them closer and in a more instinctive location.
Another thing that bugged me about the first location was the ability to see the gauges with sunglasses on. My windows have 15% tint, so driving into the sun put a glare in the cab that made it difficult to read them.
I mounted them on top of the dash in direct view from the drivers position.
You have to take the dash apart, so here's how to do that.
Start by removing the bottom knee bolster on the drivers side. Pull at it and it will pop free.
Remove the upper portion of the lower dash beneath the steering column(the "U" shaped piece) by either getting your fingers between the steering column at the top side, or by using a screwdriver to pop it out on the outside. Start at the top and work down. The retaining clips are the same as on the centerstack. The bottom is hinged similar to the glovebox.
Once this piece is removed, you will see 2 7mm bolts on either side of the steering column toward the bottom of the dash. These retain the instument surround piece. Remove them.
BTW, tilting the steering wheel up and down helps in accessing the fasteners and removing the pieces throughout this process.
Grasp the surround at the top and give it a tug straight back toward you. It will pop free. Same clips as on the centerstack, located at the top.
I had already figured out where I wanted to mount them, so I held the pod bracket that was going to be the center gauge in place by hand and marked a spot for drilling. The bracket nested in pretty good where I wanted it.
Here's how that turned out.
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Here's the back side showing the large washer I used to distribute the load.
![]()
Here's a test fit with a single gauge.
![]()
After that, I took everything back in the house to fit the other two brackets.
This was kinda a pain, since I only have two hands and needed about five.
The brackets ended up being 1.125 apart, measured from inside to inside.
Since I originally had them mounted overhead, I had plenty of wire so all I had to do was a little re-routing. I popped that little square cover off the forward part of the dash to run the wires through.
The grounds were short though, so I extended them a bit and mounted the actual ground side to the diecast inner dash support. I accessed this by taking off the side of the dash on the drivers side.
Here's the wires with plenty of slack pulled out ready to be plugged in the the gauges.
![]()
After that it was a simple task to plug everything back in and put it all back together.
Here's a few shots of how it turned out.
![]()
![]()
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I can see them now, and I think this is a much better spot.
Although it looks like they are really close to the glass, there's plenty of room.
With this arrangement I should be able to add a few more if need be on either side.
I guess I just got tired of where they were, although I liked it at first. Everytime I'd glance in the mirror I'd do a gauge check. With my eye sight not like it used to be, I thought I'd get them closer and in a more instinctive location.
Another thing that bugged me about the first location was the ability to see the gauges with sunglasses on. My windows have 15% tint, so driving into the sun put a glare in the cab that made it difficult to read them.
I mounted them on top of the dash in direct view from the drivers position.
You have to take the dash apart, so here's how to do that.
Start by removing the bottom knee bolster on the drivers side. Pull at it and it will pop free.
Remove the upper portion of the lower dash beneath the steering column(the "U" shaped piece) by either getting your fingers between the steering column at the top side, or by using a screwdriver to pop it out on the outside. Start at the top and work down. The retaining clips are the same as on the centerstack. The bottom is hinged similar to the glovebox.
Once this piece is removed, you will see 2 7mm bolts on either side of the steering column toward the bottom of the dash. These retain the instument surround piece. Remove them.
BTW, tilting the steering wheel up and down helps in accessing the fasteners and removing the pieces throughout this process.
Grasp the surround at the top and give it a tug straight back toward you. It will pop free. Same clips as on the centerstack, located at the top.
I had already figured out where I wanted to mount them, so I held the pod bracket that was going to be the center gauge in place by hand and marked a spot for drilling. The bracket nested in pretty good where I wanted it.
Here's how that turned out.
Here's the back side showing the large washer I used to distribute the load.
Here's a test fit with a single gauge.
After that, I took everything back in the house to fit the other two brackets.
This was kinda a pain, since I only have two hands and needed about five.
The brackets ended up being 1.125 apart, measured from inside to inside.
Since I originally had them mounted overhead, I had plenty of wire so all I had to do was a little re-routing. I popped that little square cover off the forward part of the dash to run the wires through.
The grounds were short though, so I extended them a bit and mounted the actual ground side to the diecast inner dash support. I accessed this by taking off the side of the dash on the drivers side.
Here's the wires with plenty of slack pulled out ready to be plugged in the the gauges.
After that it was a simple task to plug everything back in and put it all back together.
Here's a few shots of how it turned out.
I can see them now, and I think this is a much better spot.
Although it looks like they are really close to the glass, there's plenty of room.
With this arrangement I should be able to add a few more if need be on either side.
