24vCTD

I just went through 5 tubes (!) of Krazy glue trying to keep the dashboard together on my 7-year-old truck. Pi$$es me off; this truck used to be my pride & joy and now it's been relegated to daily beater status since all I see are cracks everywhere when I sit in it. I've given up on the thought of spending any more money on modding it; in fact I'm not even inclined to clean the cab out or wash the truck any more, or look at it for that matter. My "nice" car is a Buick Grand National that is 3 times as old as my truck and is holding up 20 times better. As a matter of fact, I've owned a lot of older cars and I've never had one with a cracked dash before. Seems a little backwards to me since they used to not have the UV protectants for plastics that they have available now. I've been out of the loop on this for a while--has anybody found a better solution to this problem than spending hundreds on a new dash or putting one of those ugly mats on it? Who has the best price on new dashboards? Has Chrysler Corp. acknowledged the issue and offered any kind of resolution? Thanks...

24vCTD

Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

dieselman2300

I'm getting in on this deal.


Group purchases not allowed

Barryn

This has actually been discussed many times. Use the search feature at the top of the page and you'll uncover mucho information as well as more than a few solutions. Here is a good place to start. It's a thread on this same topic from two days ago.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=210415

24vCTD

Thanks for the info guys. dieselman2300, I just registered on that other site and may end up getting in on that group purchase too if I decide against getting the full replacement from Dodge.

blackimpala

I have one of those ugly mats on mine,96 2500 sets out side and always has,no cracks. And when it comes time to sell it, it still will have no cracks. But maybe my standards are just lower than yours.

Floyd

24vCTD

I hope it works out that way for you, but before I bought my '87 Buick GN in August '07 my truck stayed in the garage all the time and it still cracked badly while in the garage. Also, I read another thread where someone took a chunk of their busted up dash and set it on the dresser in their bedroom and it continued to crack and leave an oily residue on their dresser. On a more positive note, my uncle has a brand-new-looking '96 2500 which is in a lot better shape than my '01 (he has 7 vehicles so it doesn't see nearly the usage my truck does plus it's always in the garage) and the dash in his truck looks pristine. If I remember correctly from reading up on this subject a long time ago, the early 2nd gens aren't as susceptible to this problem as the '98-'02s. They probably changed something about the composition of the plastic when they changed the design of the dash. BTW, I didn't mean to bash anybody that uses a dashmat; I just think that for a dashboard anything other than the stock look is ugly except for (tastefully) adding some gauges if needed. And even a lot of stock dashboards are hideous to me these days; that's part of what swayed me to keep my truck rather than trade it on a newer CTD Ram last year. There, now I offended the 3rd gen guys too... Again, JMHO, don't take it too seriously guys...

lawnpro

I made several calls to dodge and when a local tv station did a story last year I made more calls and they finally replaced it, they would not have done anything if the news had not gotten involved.

rob24vctd

armorall is the worst for making them crack

24vCTD

I could count the number of times I've used Armorall on my truck since I bought it in May of 2004 on one hand even if I was missing two fingers. It doesn't matter; it's made of lousy plastic. The climate doesn't matter either. I live in Ohio which is pretty mild, and the truck used to spend all it's time in my garage when I wasn't using it. I've owned 14 or more vehicles over the past 16 years, one of which was from 1966 and the rest from the '80s and '90s and I've never had a cracked dash until now.

BLassiter

yes ArmorAll is bad on dashes, in fact on my honda, the dealer strictly prohibited the use of it on the dash as it would have the same effect. Its amazing that something as simple as armorall could do that but it does. Oh well, knock on wood my dash has still survived for the meantime

Dave Miller

I got tired of procrastnating on which way to go for my cracked dash on my 97.....the recall thing was not covered by Dodge for me. Got a can of grey paint and got the Geno's Garage molded black plastic dashtop cover for $139...ouch! If I decide to replace the dash later I'll put this on top.

I'm tired of looking at that ratty crack down the middle of the dash....really looks bad.

http://www.genosgarage.com/prodinfo....er=DASHTOP-997

24vCTD

What recall? Also, how's the fit on that molded cover? Does it glue on, or just snap in place? If it glues on, can you still get to the bolts to remove the dash top if you decide to replace it or if you need to access the heater core and A/C evaporator?

Dave Miller

Sorry...It was not a RECALL.

I meant, that TV station that blasted Dodge with stories of cracked dashes and some people were getting them fixed for $100 etc...it varied depending on the dealer. They supplied an 800 to call Dodge and then had you contact your dealer. I got nowhere. My dealer wanted me to pay $85 for them to ACCESS the damage and I said No thanks. I then called back Dodge and they finally said...out of warrenty.

It wasn't a Recall....just Dodge seemed to be fixing it for some but not others.

Sorry about the confusion.

Do a search on Cracked dashes and you will find the info. Someone had googled it on the internet and provided the info.

I don't know how it attaches yet but it will be here this week. I'll let you know how it fits. The description on Geno's doesn't say how it attaches but thats a good question...that I unfortunately did not think of.

Dave

Karl2500

I went through the "recall" process, seems some '01s had the wrong resin receipe for the dash. any hoo took a while for the new one to come in but it only cost $200.00 for a new "reformulated" dash installed.