bigreendodge

so as i enter my 3rd day of hell replacing my evaporator and heater core, i wonder how many of the guys from DTR have gone through with the replacement themselves and if there are any good stories about what happened, cause right now... i'm not sure i can get it back together correctly lol. so many wiring harnesses and brackets and those stupid little plastic plugs that hold stupid stuff together.

vzdude

Do a search and you should fine a thread with pictures and a set of instructions from the manual.

xtoyz17

I just did it last weekend, and gotta do another this weekend.

Tons easier than I thought it was gonna be...just sucks if you gotta lift or drop the dash alone.

bigreendodge

well, as dumb as it sounds, i just heard that its a big annoying job, and for some reason didn't research it. i just pulled the truck in the garage,and started pulling everything apart, rather than unbolting the dash as whole. well everything has worked out so far cause the dash itself was cracked and had all kinds of hole in it so i bought one from a junkyard, and it just came in yesterday from New York, and its the entire dash, so i can start plugging harnesses in and putting it back together the way i should have done it in the first place

bigreendodge

wait wait wait, i just realized you called the job easy, i think i'm missing something, i mean its still a pain in the *** right, or did you just unscrew the screws up top of the dash and then the bolts down on the sides and just drop the entire dash? does it come far out enough like that? since i didnt do any research on the job like an idiot, i took EVERYTHING apart. i'm just wondering how far you actually have to break it down to just get the evaporator and heater core box out.

xtoyz17

There were five bolts on top of the dash, the two kick panels on each side of the truck, the steering column cover, two bolts holding the steering column, a couple nuts that hold a bracket in the center of the truck (airbag bracket and sensors?), and two bolts holding the dash at the hinge points. That's pretty much all you've gotta do to get the dash to come out. A few electrical connectors and you're staring the heater box in the face. From there, drain the A/c and disconnect the two lines to the evaporated. Disconnect your two heater hoses, and pull the heater box out. IIRC, four studs and nuts hold the heater to the firewall and they have to come out through the engine bay (nuts).

It's a pretty straight forward job actually. A lot easier than I was expecting.

1-2-3

You may be too deep now but you don't have to remove the dash to do this job. The two larger bolts by the kick panels are intended to be pivot bolts. You remove the kiclk panels deal with the steering column then remove the 5 screws up on top along the defroster vents tgen grab the dash and rotate it down. Then look over the top abd its all right there. Disconnect what you need to then roll the dash up and drop the box out.

I hope your replacing you heater core while you've got it apart. You will regret not doing so one day if you don't.

LongBlackRam

You guys are making it sound easy... About how long did the whole job take you?

klx650a2

I just had mine done at the place I bought the truck (antifreeze smell when heat turned on, yes we use the heat here in june). $250 for labour and 127 for the part. I said go for it. The guy worked on it for 2.5 days and lots of potty mouth. I've read on here it was not that much fun. They did not get the ground right for my transmission temp gauge and it was reading hot (215 on the highway, empty) all the way home, I almost FREAKED out, but traced all the wiring and fixed the issue...

1-2-3

for $375, there's no way you got your evap core changed. maybe your heater core. It's not a big deal. You just need to take your time and be careful. Don'r force anything. Most folks won't have ac charging tools, like a vacumm pump, etc. it'll run you about $100 to get it charged. About $350 to get all the parts and a weekend to do it all.

1-2-3

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=201466

Here's the thread that refered to when I did mine.

bigreendodge

wow, lemme tell you lol. the job, is not that bad. at all. i took the entire dash apart. and when i say entire dash apart, i mean everything. the plastic dash on top, the front plastic, everything. what i was left with was the bare metal support bracket underneath. so i am VERY GLAD that when my dash came in from the junkyard in NY, that it was the entire thing. so now that i see what ACTUALLY is supposed to be done to do this job, i would do it again in a heartbeat. i just wish i knew then what i know now. my only problem now is i cant find my brake controller harness lol, i know i took it out but i can't find it to plug it back in. i know it will work without it, but i'm just nit picky with things like that and i want to plug it in but can't find it.

nkennedy

I did it before too. We pulled the dash as a whole piece. 6HRs with 2 guys.

kawi600

I paid a shop 500$ to replace the evap and heater core. no way did I want to mess with that nightmare.