Replacement dash

[Gregturley]

Its time for dash repair on my rust bucket. 2001 2500. LMC, Genos, Ebay, or Amazon? Whos fits best? Best made? Don't really care about color because I'll paint it. 

 I'm really looking at the fiberglass one from Amazon. Some say fits good, others not so good but glass seems better than plastic to me. Don't know how to add a link so pic will have to do.

 Thanks for any advice you can give.

Happy New Year everyone.

[dripley]

I used the one from LMC truck my self about 7 years ago. The fit and color was spot on. About $300 back then to the house. Shipping was pricey and I bought the extra washers they sold then for use on the screws at the windshield. It gas geld up just fine so far. Others offered at the time had alot of mixed reviews like you are seeing. 

 

Funny thing is I was looking at upper bumper covers the other day and Rock Auto had one for $20. Shipping about $85. LMC, the part was higher but shipping made it  cheaper

[greed]

I checked on these from www.dashcoversplus.com a few years ago. I never found any reviews on the product. I did talk to the owner and he was very informative. He did talk about the fiberglass covers. As I recall, lots of off gassing.

[dripley]

After reading the reviews on Amazon for the  one shown I would not touch it. Even the 5 stars reviews, all 2 of them had issues. Seems the manufacture has tried to overcome having to pull the dash for install. There are a good many screws that attach from the back in a factory install. To many weird things on the install. This is a good time to pull the dash and replace it along with pulling the HVAC box and doing a rebuild on it also. It is worth the effort. Just not sure I want a replacement that requires trimming and gluing things that should be screwed.. Just my opinion.

 

You can read them for yourselves. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/98-01-DODGE-FIBERGLASS-DASHBOARD-REPLACEMENT/product-reviews/B06X931MKB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_paging_btm_next_2?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&pageNumber=2

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2020 by dripley

[Gregturley]

I've read the reviews. I have already replaced heater core and evap. At the time didn't have the cash for the dash. I like the idea of fiberglass but also leary of fitment. I'll be painting it or doing a padded dash top and that will hide a lot. Was considering using marine grade vinyl or something like that. Also wanting to build in gauge mounts for 4 gauges over instrument cluster. I think fiberglass would be easier to work with than plastic. 

 Do the ones from LMC or Genos have the screws that hold the ductwork to the dash? 

[dripley]

The LMC was a duplicate of the OE. Every screw that came out of the OE went back into the LMC replacement.

No cutting or fitting of any kind needed.

[Gregturley]

Ok i didn't realize that. Thought they left out the vent screws. Is it made out of better plastic that the original?

[dripley]

1 hour ago, Gregturley said:

Ok i didn't realize that. Thought they left out the vent screws. Is it made out of better plastic that the original?

As i remember, yes. Mine has near 7 years sitting in the sun. The OE did not start cracking until 9 or 10 years old. Never lost any big chunks of it until i pulled it out and as you can see it had a lot of cracks.

 

IIRC you have to pull the dash to install it. Pretty sure you cannot get to all the screws from the front.

Looking at yhe dates on pic I did thus back in November of 2012.

[Gregturley]

Mine has a piece of a  coke 24 pack holding up my carpet dash cover. I've lost 4"-6" chunks.

[dripley]

14 minutes ago, Gregturley said:

Mine has a piece of a  coke 24 pack holding up my carpet dash cover. I've lost 4"-6" chunks.

Mine would have gotten the same way but I couldn't stand it anymore, plus I was getting a wiff of coolant every once in while and the evaporator was suspect too.

[Gregturley]

Mine was shot when i got the truck. Lost some on heater core replacement. Lost more over the last year just driving.  When i did the heater i was broke and in a hurry couldn't mess with dash then. $20 carpet mat been on since I bought the truck but i hate it. 

[Dieselfuture]

This was my temporary fix, still using it for a moment, got more cracks since but none of it has fallen in yet.

 

[dripley]

Now thats what 50 pound dash pad looks like. I smeared a bunch of silicone on the back of my dash bezel to hold it together. Worked pretty good but I was scared to to pull it off for anything. The top was very fragile.

[Gregturley]

I did that on my 97. 4 layers of glass mat. Worked great but the 01 was way beyond that when I got it. 

Edited January 3, 2020 by Gregturley

[Dieselfuture]

Yeah I kinda cut it in time before it was in pieces, had cracks but nothing broke yet. I can't see myself putting a puzzle together. If it was all busted, I'd probably get a new one and from what I read I'd go with lmc. That day is coming but I might try some type of leather over top yet with glue. That fiberglass actually reduced the engine sounds just a little, enough to notice but not enough to do it for fun.

[JAG1]

I tried some leather but it curled real bad in the sun.

[Sycostang67]

I wish all I needed was the top cover. 

[Gregturley]

My lower has a bunch of broken screw holes. Going to epoxy them up.

[dripley]

I just did a new dash bezel from LMC. Good product and fit again. But $200 to the door. Rock auto has a bezel very reasonable but I know nothing about it. It was not available when I bought mine.

[Gregturley]

Lmc is $350 to my door