1968 GTX - removal of dash/instrument panel?

[moparedtn]

Need some help here, guys.
What is the proper procedure for removal of the instrument panel and the switch panel below it?
I got electrical gremlins and spending a lot of time crammed up under there on my wrecked back isn't a pleasant thought.
TIA!

 

[dfarmercse]

Remove all the trim, switch panel, lower dash pad and then the cluster. It is hard to get the switch panel out from under the pad. I ended removing all the nuts from the pad and pulling them together.

Dave F

 

[hunt2elk]

It makes removal easier if you loosen the two steering column bolts also.

 

[moparedtn]

Thanks so far.

Is that the correct order, dfarmer?
No, I don't want to try and remove the switch panel without removing the pad first; carnage will result.
Learned that in the junkyard the other day, removing a switch panel from a junker. Had to literally destroy that dash pad to get the panel out.
What holds that dash pad in, speed nuts? How many? Where are they located? Is it easier to get at them if I were to actually pry the switch panel out first?

 

[moparstuart]

there is a nut behind the switch panel to remove the lower pad ?? ? how did you get the pad off with out removing the switch panel first ?? the lower pads swell but the switch panel will come out ..

 

[dfarmercse]

It is easier to remove them together, remove the lower nuts, remove screws for switch panel, gives you access to the upper pad screws and remove them together, Once the pad swells it is very hard to get the switch panel out without tearing up the pad.

Dave F

 

[moparstuart]

It is easier to remove them together, remove the lower nuts, remove screws for switch panel, gives you access to the upper pad screws and remove them together, Once the pad swells it is very hard to get the switch panel out without tearing up the pad.

Dave F

yes but if you have never had the switch panel out of the car there is a bolt behind that panel that holds the pad on . I can see if you have had your pad off before and left that bolt out , but if someone had the pad off for the first time or it was put back together correctly there is no way to get the pad and switch panel out together with out ruining the pad . You must pull the switch panel first to loosen the pad .

 

[dfarmercse]

Take screws out of switch panel, side it out about a inch or what ever you can and you can get to the screws that hold the upper pad. Remove then together. The screw on the upper left is slotted so all you have to do is loosen it.

Dave F

 

[moparedtn]

Thanks again guys. I'll give it a whirl this weekend.
At least the Alternator, OIL light and Temperature gauges work in the instrument panel; pretty much nothing else does.
The switches seem to work except for the dimmer, which I'll be replacing.
No turn signals at all; the hazards kinda work but no indication on the instrument panel.

 

[696969]

Yeah, I'm having the same issue. Tired of contorting my poor body like Houdini to get behind there. Some of those switches are completely impossible to replace once out.