Nub bus, no gauges - mechanical shock I think
 

Guys,
I haven't been around in a while but it is time to come back for help. I have done some searching and not a lot of diagnosis on the truck yet, that will happen when I return home today. In the interim I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of where to start.
The first portion of my daily commute is a gravel road. Due to the winter we have had this year it is a very harsh ice and snow washboard. Bad enough that if I go over 20 miles an hour, the cup holder shakes out of the dash. This morning, right at the worst of the shaking from the washboard (right when I expect my teeth to fall out) I heard a bing from the dash. I looked down, all my gauges were dead, No Bus on the odometer and No CCD on the overhead computer. So, I turned off the truck and turned it back on, no difference. At this point I decided to turn around and swap the truck for the car. After about a 1/4 mile the gauges all came back but now the CEL is on. I will check for codes when I get home but my guess is that a connector somewhere got rattled loose by the brutal and incessant banging from the washboard.

Any recommendations on where I should start looking for a loose plug or connector?

My no buss, I pulled the cluster and reseated the electrical connectors.

Where is the cluster? I hate to sound dense, but I am not sure where to start looking. Is it firewall, passenger side? I seem to remember that was where I went with my noise filter when my TC wouldn't stay locked.

TIA.

The instrument cluster with all the gauges.

Well heck, that isn't the answer I wanted. Is there an easy way to get to the back of the instrument cluster without spending hours removing the entire dash?

This is the first vehicle I have owned where I haven't had the dash off and on multiple times. Heck, in my Chevy I stopped putting most of the bezel and trim stuff back on :)

We can close the file on this one for now. Like I said, the gauges were working again by the time I got home. Cleared the DTC’s, went for a drive and no issues.

The gauge cluster is rather easy to get to- open aux power outlet door (if equipped), remove bolt, pry bezel loose starting at the light switch, go around clockwise.

Then there are only 4 bolts attaching the cluster to the dash.