US Speedo Gauge Cluster Face Replacement:
I received the us speedo kit, I was happy to see it was a _replacement_ gauge face, not just an overlay. The kit had instructions (with pictures), “pickle-fork” needle-removal tool and ofcourse the gauge face itself. FWIW here is how it went for me, much of this is supplemental to the instructions:
1. Warm up vehicle and dash plastic sufficiently (it was 18F outside when I did it)
2. With the vehicle off – Mark the needle resting positions on the gauge picture diagram provided on the instructions (for needle replacement later)
3. There are 2 plastic screws that secure the gauge bezel (and upper dash), they come out easy and vanish quick too if you don’t keep track of where you place them J
4. Before the bezel can come off, the lower half of the dash has to be pulled out. There are 2 10mm bolts, one near the door and the other to the left of the e-brake that must be removed.
5. Once the bolts are off, the lower dash separates pretty easy. It doesn’t have to be removed, just moved out of the way to be able to get the gauge bezel off
6. The gauge bezel (including the fog lamp, diff lock switches) now comes off pretty easily. The instructions said to disconnect the switches – I didn’t, and found there was room to operate with just the bezel moved to the side
7. 4 screws hold the gauge cluster in place, then the two main connectors, and then the gauge cluster is out !
8. The cluster has 3 pieces pancaked together with “tabs”, I’ll call them the “base”, the clear plastic “lens” and the “black middle piece” for lack of a better description.
9. CAREFULLY start with the clear (lens) tabs and remove lens from the black middle piece
10. Then, just as CAREFULLY, do the same with the black tabs and remove the black middle piece
11. You MAY be able to remove the lens and the black piece together, (ie skip #9) , but that’s not the way I did it
12. Next step is to pluck the needles – using the provided pickle-fork needle removal tool, CAREFULLY pluck the needles off the cluster
13. Now for the gauge face replacement – wash your hands – I even put rubber gloves on
14. The gauge face just lifts off the base, the US speedo replacement just fits on replacing it – perfect fit!
15. The needles get put back on next – the instructions say to reconnect the cluster, turn the ignition on/off to reposition the little servos for the gauges – I didn’t do it that way. I found that all the needles lined up when the servos were at their counter-clockwise stop position. So I placed the needle lightly on the post, just a bit clockwise of where I wanted it, pressed it on just enough so it would ‘grip’ the post, then GENTLY rotated the needle into position (and the servo stop position) before pressing on. It worked for me, but it may not work for you. I am an oaf when it comes to tiny delicate stuff, but I took my time and it worked out ok.
Warning - Don’t go too gonzo with pressing the needles back on, leave a bit of clearance between the needle and the face – I used the pickle fork as a guide.
Make sure the needles move freely, and that when at their counter-clockwise stop position the needles match the position marked in #2.
16. Now the black middle piece and the lens can be snapped back into position on the gauge cluster, the cluster installed and connected, bezel and lower dash reassembled
17. Almost done, now I didn’t like the way the silver rings on the bezel looked with the white gauge faces. So I carefully plucked those out with a small screwdriver. They are just pressed in but take a bit of finesse to get out, but not bad. Turns out they are metal. I painted them matte black and snapped them back into place - MUCH better IMO.
18. …rock & roll ! Pop the top on that Newcastle longneck !
19. Repeat step 18
Observations:
Gauges turn black with dashlights on, pretty slick. But, I did notice the needles cast more “shadowing” (with dash lights on) with the white face than with the OEM face, but not too bad. I just dimmed the dash light a bit more.
Total time start to finish was about 50 minutes for me, but I spent 10 minutes looking for those 2 bolts that retain the lower dash, and another 5 remembering where I put the 2 plastic bezel retainer screws.
Overall Im very happy with the gauge face replacement and the ‘daytona’ white face look in the Taco
I'll get a pic up tomorrow, we're getting a ~foot snowstorm right now
