The 1977 f150 I bought has two good size crackes. I wanted to replace the dash and Having a problem removing the old one. I have taken out 5 top dash screws and am not sure were to go from there. Any help would be great.

 

Hey Scott, Welcome to FTE.

Maybe one of the guys here can help you out.

 

Hi Scott, Have you taken out the guage cluster and the glove box? There are a few nuts on each side you have to get out . Not to bad to do once you get so you can get to them. Erv

 

There is a total of eight. The five across the back, one each side kind of diagonal from the ends of the 5 row, and one behind the center drop down piece on the front of the dash pad.

 

Mine has a dash pad in about the same shape. Is there metal underneath the dash pad or would I need to find a replacement? I hadn't gotten into it any because I really didn't want to have something crumble to pieces in taking it out when I don't really need to replace it for any particular reason.

 

Oooooo.... Arizona-Knutty-Boy to the rescue! :)

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/speedcontrol.jpg
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/gearshift.jpg

That's cardboard in the windshield (too much glare to take a picture).

See the gear shift lever extension I made when I worked in a machine shop? :)
And my "clock"? :) And how I removed the fancy-chrome from the surface of the black plastic parts to make them look plain? :)

The metal part of the dash was flat black. I removed the whole thing, STPed the windshield wiper stuff, painted the dash and DynaMatted the crap out of it. I remember DynaMatting it supported between two boxes in the livingroom because the weather was kinda cool and a hair-dryer is needed to soften the DynaMat and its glue etc.

I need to take more pictures if anyone is interested in removing their padded dash. I like it! YMMV Maybe decide after seeing my mess? ;)

The speedcontrol-control is simply stuffed into an existing-gaping-hole and wedged into place. The other end of the dash is bondo-ed and since it's kinda big and thick... wedged some heavy screen into place so it's inside the bondo.

It's not on there in the pictures... but I cut a black rubber mat to fit the bare-metal dash like a carpet pad would. A carpet pad won't fit good without the padded dash right? ;) Using the slots/holes already in the dash and used some "made from sheet-metal" type U-nuts to screw it down from the top only.

My pickup's never had and never will have a stinkin radio or speaker in it so the speaker grill is DynaMatted and serves as a service-hatch when needed. :)

Anybody interested in more pictures?
Just for fun going to try some out there in the dark and see how they come out, usually I don't like flash pictures, that's where a digital camera kicks butt. :) They not only can do better but you can see what you're getting and can get a away with. Like the cardboard was needed big-time that afternoon in the pictures above.

Alvin in AZ

 

You have to fish around up in there to find the nuts on the ends. There is a metal backing, foam pad and my understanding from talking to a company that restores em is that the vinyl was heated and sucked onto the foam pad under a vacuum in a big vacuum machine of some sort.

 

Wow looks good Alvin from AZ. More pictures would be nice. Do you have a gallery or just taking them as needed?

 

Sort of both I guess. :)
The pictures last night turned out ok... :)

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/dash.jpg

That one's kinda cool since the windshield is reflecting the bare dash from that angle. :)

It's been close to 10 years since I removed the padded dash and you can see where my white paint's chipped off from stuff being on the dash. It wouldn't look that bad if it weren't for the black crap from the factory I left under my new white paint. ;) It's just some sort of black crap they put on the metal before installing the windshield's rubber seal. <shrug>

Those are small stainless steel-capped bumper bolts.

And you can see the U nuts stuffed into the slots there that were holding down a black rubber mat. I made those from ordinary U nuts but they sell U nuts with a "waiste" at the bend like those have. Bench grinder and water to cool the part and my fingers in. ;)

I took the rubber mat off for some reason and never bothered to put it back... trying to compete with "460" and his cool F350. ;)

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/dash1.jpg

Ain't a whole lot more in that picture except you can see where the paint doesn't stick well to galvanized steel. :/

Last week I took off the left door cover because the window crank system is making a new ticking-noise it didn't make before. :/ New noises need to be looked into. <--that sort of thinking is what's kept my pickup from breaking down and leaving me stranded anywhere -ever- in over 31 years. :)

So what do you think about how it looks? :)
Let me guess... "like crap dude" :)

I removed a dumb ol' black felt cowboy hat from the dash for the pictures, I've been using it to reduce the reflections. :)

Alvin in AZ

 

Thanks erv, that will be this week's project. I have every book that covers the 77 150's and could not find anything on the dash. I am still looking for the factory service book's, These may hold the key's!

 

It looks good. You should see my truck, it's almost a competitor for the worst looking truck competition. The floorboards have auxiliary fresh air vents and everything. Thanks for the pics.