I got mt 05 A/C controls in today and they fit the 08 bezel perfectly, the top screw holes line up but the bottom ones don't. I have a plan for this and it includes how I'm going to fill in the gap where the 08 controls go. Ill post pics later, I also have several more parts on the way from winning bids on Ebay.

 

Does anyone know where I can get the charcoal colored interior paint? I have gotten several parts now and some of them need to be painted. I can find the pre 08 colored paints easy but nothing past 08. All i need now is the main dash frame and bezel, and the lower dash, glove box, emergency brake, and the air ducts then i have everything to get this started.

 

Try Dupli Color, They have tabs to select the make, model, and year.

Dupli-Color Automotive Paints, Primers & Coatings at CARiD.com

 

Bump, any updates? I wanna do this to my truck real bad!

 

Nothing major yet, I am still gathering parts for the swap. I have everything except a cluster, the glove box, the a/c ducts and the frame with bezel. I will order the golve box in the next week or two and i will be ordering a frame and bezel from a guy on Ebay who i got down to $450 plus shipping just waiting to get paid then i will purchase that and have almost everything to do the swap. Currently I'm fighting with my door locks though on my 08 panels its driving me nuts . Also I still need to find the interior charcoal paint, i tried looking on the link Nash posted but i didn't see anything that looked as close as the colorbond paint i got to match my 04's grey.

 

do you by any chance have the wiring diagram for that 08 cluster you will be putting in?

 

that 08 steering column looks absolutely nothing like the 99-07 steering column...you have my interest if you can get that to fit. I would swap to the 08 column/wheel if it wasn't the worlds biggest headache. It's sooooo much nicer.

 

I do i'll try to post it up here. What i plan to do though is to run my 04 cluster at first until i get the cluster swap sorted out on paper then i want to make conversion harness so i can a tleast reuse my old one without having to hack up my harness if need be...like i did with my locks lol.

From what i could see the part that actually connects a the fire wall looks identical but the mounting points might be different. either way i wont have an issue since i am swapping out the dash but i will try and mount the new column in the old dash for those who would prefer the newer wheel and older dash.

If anybody has any idea how i can get a colorbond or SEM or something paint that is nearly identical to the interior charcoal paint feel free to post it up lol. at $16 a can i'd rather be sure before i buy it and never use it again if it doesn't match.

 

Sorry been busy chasing down a power locks issue but i finally figured it out, also a quick update on this probably the last one before i transition to a build thread but i purchased an 08 full dash bezel and metal frame structure and is currently being shipped from FL to me so i will have it in about a weeks time, ill post up pics of it all loosely placed together once i get it.

 

Hey guys I wanted to post this up, it's a how to i made to convert your 08 door lock switches to have the 99-07 style base.

I had issues rewiring the locks and after looking at my old switches i realized that they would be disassembled. After i took my old one apart i decided to take the 08 one apart as well and then rebuild it with the older switch board to utilize the old wiring harness.

All these steps are identical for the 99-07 and the 08-current switches.

First remove the rocker on top of the switch by using a small precision screw driver to pop off the rocker.



After the rocker has been removed then you can remove the lower half of the switch by using two small flat heads to separate the upper and lower housings from where they are clipped together on the sides. There are two clips on each side.



once this is done you can separate the two halves and set aside the 08 lower switch housing you will no longer need it.

Now that you have the 08 housing apart you will need to take the upper half of the 08 switch and the lower half of the 99-07 switch and trim out some of the alignment tabs inside that align the board. This will not cause any alignment issues or concerns because the rocker on the board is not perfectly centered so the board will still only go in one way.

Lower 99-07 half.

I do not have any pictures unfortunatley but in the upper picture you can see where the 4 locking tabs are that are used to lock the two halves together. I had to remove two of them one one switch and remove half of two and a quarter of another on the second part so this may vary with each switch. This is easy to check however because all you need to do is slide the 08 upper half onto the 99-07 lower halaf and see if they can interlock together.

Upper 08 half

The taller tabs in the picture above either need to be removed or just trimmed down the the same height as the shorter ones and at this point the 99-07 board should slip right in. DON'T put it back together just yet still need to do some other things first.

Now that the trimming is done your can start working on the boards.

First take the 08 board and remove the black rocker that is snapped in the same exact way the plastic exterior rocker is.


Once removed remove the one from the 99-07 style board this rocker should be white and flat where as the 08 rocker shown is black with a tall "tower" sticking up.

Now that both rockers are removed set aside the 08 board and the 99-07 rocker, you will not be needing them. ALSO! make sure that the spring and metal pieces are still in the board rockers after removing them they are not held in and easily fall out.

Once you have set aside all the old parts it is now time for reassembly you should have the following parts.

99-07 Board
99-07 Board
08+ Board Rocker
08+ Upper Switch housing
08+ Outer Switch Rocker

Now to reassemble place the 08 board rocker in the 99-07 board and it should look like this, orientation does not matter.


Once that is complete now i would recommend plugging it into the trucks wiring harness, make sure the pins line up right and test it to make sure it works. you can install the 99-07 lower half to snap it in with the board if you are worried about miss-aligning the pins. Once working great, now place the reworked board inside the lower housing and snap it into place on the 08 upper housing. Next attach the new rocker and WAHLA! You basically just kept your 99-07 lock switch and gave it a hew look to match your 08 door panels.

The switch should look like this when you are done.



You may need to use some super glue around the lower housing to keep it in place depending on how you have to trim the locking tabs on the 99-07 lower half. One of my switches locked in and stays perfectly in place but the other tends to want to slip out and will get some super glue to keep it together better.

If you guys have any questions don't hesitate to ask, this took me 20 minutes to do which was about 10 minutes per switch and it is a hell of a lot easier than cutting and soldering and rewiring for the new switch.


Also here is a quick pic of all my part i have so far. I will have the main dash structure and all these parts mounted to it early this week.


I am in the process of making a build thread as wee speak so i will transfer my progress most likely to that thread, i will post the link shortly.

 

This is an awesome project you have going here. Can't wait to see it finished. I always liked the look of the older SD trucks but was never a fan of the interior. It's going to look great once you have it finished.



On your lower panel of the dash there's that skewed rectangle door to the left of the fold out cup holders. Is that a door that opens to storage behind it or just a cover for the hole there?

My 2012 has the same lower panel but I have a useless little cubby hole there that is in the way of my CB antenna cable. If that piece is just a flat cover it wouldn't hit the connector for my radio and take a lot of stress off the connection.

Thanks

 

whole lot of win in this thread. can't wait to see the install. lots of pics please...and I bookmarked your switch setup.

I need to get some parts to do the exterior conversion, then I'm all about doing the interior with leather

 

Mine is an ash tray...I have always had this crazy idea to put a wireless charging pad in the truck because with my new Galaxy S4 i have a wireless charging back so it would be nice to just like pop it in that slot turn the blue tooth on and close it so i can use it through my radio while it charges.

Will do man, mainly working on getting parts right now, next is the glove box once i get the dash in and then I'll start looking up wiring pigtails and diagrams. Also gotta try and find the matching charcoal paint for the 08+ interior. I might just go to NAPA and have them mix it up.

Also build thread is in my sig, I will update this thread through the whole install as well though.

 

Had a present waiting for me when i got into work this morning!

 

I am interested to see how this turns out. There is a salvage yard in kentucky that specializes in superdutys I can try to find the link to them if you want to check with them for any parts. I would guess they would ship to you.