I just bought this truck yesterday, and own the way home when it got dark and I turned on the lights, I notice a hole with the instrument backlights shining through it. I never noticed in the daylight. It looks like where the gear position indicator would be on an auto truck...right below the fuel gauge. I guess there was some kind of plastic blank there that fell out. Anybody know how hard it's going to be to get at that? I don't think there's a hole big enough to come from underneath.

The steering seems to have some slack in it. It does stay very straight on the road if you let go of the steering wheel for a ways. I'm going to do some archive reading here on that.

Also, I noticed the delay on the wipers isn't working. Any ideas on that? This truck is only 3K out of warranty...I don't understand why the previous owner didn't have these minor things fixed. Other than that, love it! I got 18 mpg on the trip home with the cruise set at 75. That's better than my '99 Nissan 4x4 V6.

 

Under the fuel gauge on mine is the tranny indicater, so you're right 'bout that. How to get to it ...don't know.
Wipers? maybe a fuse?

let us know...

 

You can pull the dash bezel off and that should give you a better idea of what you need to do to get at it. It is just held on with clips, so you can just grab a corner and work your way around. Tilt the steering wheel down when removing. Thats as far as I have gone with mine, but hopefully you will find that missing part in there somewhere.

The sector shaft on the steering box can be adjusted on the opposite side of the pitman arm (a set screw with a jam nut-allen head about 3/16"). Adjust it with the wheels straight about 1/8 turn at a time. The steering will get too tight if you over do it, so just a little at a time until it gets where you like it.

I'm not sure on the wipers if they are vacuum delay or electronic.

Enjoy the new truck.

Boyd.

 

Be very careful adjusting the steering box. If you overtighten it you will be constantly all over the road because no matter now little you turn the steering wheel it will be "over-correcting". Been there, broke that.
I suggest you look at all of the other steering components first, as the steering box should not need to be adjusted, normally. The track bar comes to mind, but I forget exactly what its symptoms are.

Chris

 

Yeah, check that track bar. Have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth wihle you look to see if it has any play where it attaches to the frame bracket. If you see much movement at all, it probably needs to be dealt with. There are several differant fixes for that, and a lot of info on track bars around here.


Boyd.

 

Your instrument cluster is removed by:

Do like Borush stated with the bezel.

Remove phillips screws, pull entire cluster out, no wires, no fuss.
PS---It is sort of slotted like, so you put it in exactly like it came out.

I've had mine out several times to clean, dust gets into the cluster through the trip meter reset button. Really irregates me

 

magnum - i know what you mean . i hate having to take the whole dash apart to clean out the small amount of dirt that sneaks its way into the panel.

anyone have any other suggestion on how to clean in there? ive thought about putting some sorta rubber ring around the odometer reset stick to stop dirt from getting in but havent been able to find anything that would work.....

sorry about stealing the thread for a sec.

Jeff

 

Jeff,

That's a GRRRReat idea!!!!

Even If you push the trip meter, it would still return to its original position, as long as the "O" ring was under the face plate on the cluster, that should work.

Guess what I'm going to do next time......yes, I just had it out last week

 

Keep the dust out of cab in the first place by running a Geno's Cab Fresh filter. Also keeps your vents and blower motor from clogging with leaves.
http://216.167.41.9/CoastalData/show...ID=197&CATID=1

 

how long do the filters last

 

The only part of the filter that wears out is the activated charcoal that removes odors. It will filter dust for a very long time by just squirting it with a hose to clean, don't even have to remove it. I'm running a Scotty air filter that sucks the engine intake air though the vent cowling, a lot of air is moving though the clean cab. I've had the same filters in mine for three years, no problem.

 

Thanks guys...took the instrument panel out and blocked off the hole. I adjusted the steering wheel back to center, according to some archive reading on here. Now I'll take a look at the track bar.

 

Good deal, Steve! Let us know how it goes with track bar.


Boyd.