The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Instrument cluster on '65 C30

I would like to pull out the gauge cluster on the truck to clean it up inside. It is very dirty since this was a farm truck.

There are five screws on the outside...I took those out and it is a little loose. It seems to be sticking right about where the clutch knob goes.

When I turn my 6'1"'s up side down and look in...I can't really see anything blocking the back side of it. Maybe the light switch, but that isn't where it is hanging up right now.

Is there a tool that is used to get the little chrome plate of the front?
Is there something behind that is holding this up that I can't see?

Is all this worth it to clean up the inside of the lens and repaint the outside to look better? :^)

Dave

you need to pull the switches & cables out & disconnect the speedo cable before the panel can be removed. Its not too hard. Brian

I'm not sure about the 65, but the 60-63 have some clips (I think there are 3) in the bezel.
The speedo cable also needs to be disconnected. However, you will notice the speedo cable after you got it out a few inches.

Hope this helps some.

Ok, got the cluster out of the dashboard...pun intended.

There were no clips, but I did have to figure out how to get the chrome screws off the front of the gauge cluster.

For anyone else doing this...I had to use the extra joint in my wrist (:^) and reach up under dash and hold the back side of whatever piece. Then I pressed the fingers of the other hand onto the chrome piece. I twisted the whole thing from back side...(it only moved a little each time)...then I held the chrome in place as I twisted the backside back to the original position...repeat like a million times until the chrome piece is loose.

The speedo was pretty easy to unscrew.

(The problem is that I had already painted the steering column...so that is scratched now...:^( ..)

What is interesting...is that the interior of the gauge cluster has tubes made of cardboard!! Seriously...that is just strange to me. So watch out with any water.

I'm going to spray the inside a silver and change a couple of bulbs to green. Just to add some of my own personality before putting it all back together.

Thanks for the help.

Dave

OH...and I took lots of digital pics of the bulb wires before I pulled them out...there are like 8 or 9 of them and wanted a record for when I put it back together.