Hi all, I have a 98 Ranger and last night I was on my way to work when finally my last light bulb in the instrument panel finally burnt out. So this morning I went out there, removed the 3 screws from atop the panel lining, and thought everything was okay as the panel seemed like it was coming out but its stuck on the bottom part. My question is, how do I get this piece out so I can get to the instrumental panel to replace the lightbulbs? Do I just have to really yank it out or are there hidden screws I need to get to? Thanks

Also I could any help/ pointers on how to replace these lights! I know they can be found at a local Autozone or parts store

 

there are two screws in the cover over the radio and thermostat controls u have to look from the bottom to see them, and u have to pop that off also...

 

I'm sure someone else will chime in with more details soon!

 

here you go
https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...ghlight=takeda

 

Thanks trey, I got that removed. It still seems to be stuck to the left and right of the steering column though. I have a pic here to show where i'm currently at

 

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...te+face+gauges

EDIT: dang 99offroad beat me to it

 

Ya, your gonna have to take your plastic kick panel off then take the metal panel behind it off first before you can get the dash part off.

 

haha yeah.......https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...ghlight=takeda step by step how to remove it all

 

Thank you all! I was able to disassemble everything w/ yalls help and it actually wasn't hard, just time consuming. I put blue lights in there for a teal look, kinda funny cause only one of the lights looks blue but I don't care, as long as all my lights work (since Ive had the truck, only 4 of them worked).

Now I might go as far as replacing the lights for the fan, a/c, etc lol

 

I just replaced my dash lights a couple days ago after reading the how to. It was very easy, but was the most intensive gauge cluster removal I've done in any vehicle yet.

I think it's about 20 bolts altogether by the time you're done. I think I got mine taken apart,replaced and reassembled in about half an hour.

Now that I've done it,I wished I went with blue,lol.

Nice being able to see my gauges again though! Since I got the truck,4 of the 6 bulbs were burnt out.

 

Haha I hear ya on that one! I just went outside since its now dark here and the blue is nice. Only problem I have with it is that its a little dim but I knew it would happen

 

You have to pull everything apart again and actually take the gauge faces off the cluster and sand off the green on the backing and make it clear to let the blue come through.

Or something like that. Ask 99offroadrngr, he did it.

 

yeah i did it following the guidelines of two different threads. pretty easy imo but only "difficult" thing ppl may encounter is the calibration of the speedometer but mine came out good. still need to do the switches though(lights 4x4 and fogs) but HVAC controls are done

ehh...guess ill ***** w/ 1 pic

 

That looks really good! All I have to do is take that black faceplate and sand the green off of it? Also where did you find how to do it? Thanks

 

Link 1: Calibration of Speedometer
https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...Mileage+adjust
....don't need to adjust mileage unless you want to lol

Link 2: Gauge sanding
https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...LED+Conversion
***YOU DON'T NEED TO PAINT ANYTHING***
just follow sanding process and taking apart gauges

without those i wouldn't be able to do it at all, i would be clueless lol.

ill take a pic of the hvac controls tonight. those are easy you just need to take the white plastic thing off and take out the little plastic film which is green...don't need to sand anything there just throw in some blue 194 wedge base LEDs. i am just waiting for the spring to do the cruise control and the switches...my cruise don't even light up anymore