I thought taking apart the dashboard would be easy. I removed the entire rest of the interior (sans wheel and pedals, of course) on my own in about two hours with three hand tools. Surely with the assistance of five others the dashboard would be a cakewalk, I thought. Turns out I'm an idiot.
At first the dashboard was no problem. The glovebox, air bags, radio, gauges, and A/C control panel all came out like clockwork. Once those were gone, however, Murphy rolled up in all his maniacal glory.
It began with the steering wheel. Despite removing the head bolt, the wheel stubbornly refused to separate itself from the steering column. Then someone said I needed some sort of steering wheel removal tool. So I went down to the local Advance Auto and got one, along with a Haynes Repair Manual for the truck (I already had one but foolishly left it back in Springfield). Upon opening the wheel removal tool package I immediately knew something was wrong. Sure enough, the book said airbag-equipped wheels needed a "two-jaw puller." Another trip, this time to Pep Boys. I go in, get the two-jaw, and return to the shop. I attach the puller as I'm supposed to, tighten it, and instead of pulling off the wheel, it bends and pops off. So it's back to Advance Auto to see if they have a better one. They don't. Back to the shop. Adam, one of the Clayton shop people, welds steel bars to the puller to keep it from bending. Naturally, it simply bends somewhere else, obeying the law of "if you strengthen the weak link, you wind up with a new weak link." So, at day's end, the wheel was still attached.
As for the rest of the dashboard, it was a day-long game of "find the bolts," over fifty of them, most hidden in places requiring small hands and/or six inch extensions on the socket wrench. In the end, the dash did yield, but not before putting a serious hurting on us. We now also have one less week to get the roll cage installed (and this coming Saturday is expected to be a short one). Vegas to Reno is only 172 days off.
Ouch. Someone pass me the Tylenol. And as always, thanks for reading, dudes.
The dash with all the easy stuff removed
Scoutmaster Ron Harrell hunts for the "magic bolt"
The dash, finally freed
So that's what a dashless truck looks like.
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