Today’s first episode: the trip odometer is worn out and drive gear is cracked.
Thanks to this site …
http://www.dieselgiant.com/repairyourodometer.htm
… for help with the concept of how the odometer works. Best step-by-step with photos I’ve seen yet – before this one ☺
I should have taken step by step photos of getting the instrument cluster out, to help out other newbies like me who have no experience with this and have to scrounge through the web to find bits and pieces of help here and there. I’ll try to at least provide some links to the places I found to get all of this into one place.
Between the Haynes manual and the Chilton manual, I managed to figure out how to get to the cluster. Also the LMC web site …
http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cd/full.aspx?page=33
… has an online catalog with exploded views of the dash and just about everything else. I think spatially like this, so these exploded views make perfect sense to me, and I can fiddle my way through a project.
Another wonderful source here in Indy is Truck Parts Plus salvage shop. I’ve been able to find lots of little things there. The people are very helpful. I also found new front seats through LKQ, posted on eBay. They were able to ship using their own drivers on routes between their locations. I got what I needed from a warehouse in Wisconsin for a tiny fraction of what it would have cost to use freight to my house or to a dock for pickup.
Back to the trip odometer: Basically, I just started taking out all the visible screws on the dash, then started gently prying and tugging on pieces that had no visible screws. By and by, without breaking a single thing, I had the cluster upside down on a towel on my kitchen counter.
Everything in this dash is over 20 years old. Everything is basically plastic, and is dry and brittle, and very nasty with dust and oily stuff. Easily distracted by such matters, I started taking notes on things I would like to do but might not get done for lack of time:
-the air ducts: I would like to take those out and clean them thoroughly. They are very very yukky.
-ABS plastic: I would like to heat-weld all of the little cracks and broken pieces I’ve run across or caused by my own plundering around.
-dash covers: the foam on the dash is turning into powder; live with it, or try to replace it?
OK – I promise, back to the trip odometer, with instructions as if talking to you, and your truck is like mine:
1. Remove the bezel surrounding the dash, and remove everything that comes between you and the instrument cluster. My instrument cluster is housed in an aqua blue/greenish frame, with a metal enclosure on the back. The instrument dials are exposed somewhat, but not to the extent of the older models with the needle indicators. In my truck, the gauges are mostly circular and revolve on a spindle, driven by little solenoids that get their info from microchips. Still, always be aware that the moving parts of the gauges are fragile.
2. The cluster is held in place by a cable end with a whole lot of pins, quite like a 1990s computer’s printer or monitor connection. That’s because the cluster is electronic, and works through a circuit board. The gauges are analog and mechanical, but they get their info electronically through microchips. Cool (But, someday, I want a truck that is totally mechanical, a 1968 C 10 or 20, to match my Airstream).
3. Grasp the left and right edges of the cluster’s frame and pull out toward you, easy, easy; try not to rock it back and forth, but if you have to, because it has never been taken out before, just barely wiggle it.
4. When you have the cluster separated from the connector, the next step is to get the cluster out of the truck and into the kitchen. Watching out for the trip odometer reset stem on the cluster, turn the ignition to the accessory setting to disengage the shifter, put your foot on the brake, and shift the gear shift arm down. Press and hold inward the reset stem of the cluster, and gently lift and slightly twist and turn the cluster out of its nesting place in the dash.
5. Shift the truck back into Park, and with the cluster in hand, head to the kitchen counter, or wherever you can work with a lot of light and a soft towel for the faces of the gauges.
Continued ...