2006 DC Dash Lights

Hey, Guys.
Today I got started with changing out my dash lights on my 06 DC. I took everything apart and it looks the factory LED diodes are soldered onto the electronic board.
Has anyone with a 06 DC changed out the lights behind the dash? I've looking around to try to see more of the inside without risking damage but all I see are LED diodes, no lamps.

 

05/06 are LED soldered directly onto the board.

You can change them if you have soldering skills. If you just want white you can wet sand the 'green' off the back of the gauge face.

 

How did you peal the back off? I didn't want to pull the gauge arms off because I was afraid of breaking them.

Do you have a link to the post of the pictures?

 

Slide a fork behind the needles and slide/pull them straight up.

I'd recommend taking a picture before hand, for reference when you install the needles for the correct positioning.

When reinstalling put them on a few mm and then rotate them to the correct position, then push them down. Putting the fork behind them when pushing down will keep them from going too far.

 

One more question, What grit sand paper do you recommend?

 

I used 600, others have used 400.

 

@assassin10000
Is the green part paint? I wonder if using paint thinner would work.

 

Hahaha, well, I didn't use paint thinner. I used 600 grit sand paper to wet sand. It came out very nice, can't wait to see how it looks at night.

 

You’ll be stoked.

 

Pics?

 

I'll post some when it gets dark but I'm pretty sure its going to look like post #2

 

Would not recommend. You don't want to remove the other coatings or damage the plastic face.

 

@assassin10000

Hey, so I took pictures of my needles before taking them off. When I went to put them back on they have been off. I've been adjusting them and I think I go them pretty accurate. Did you run into this issue after install?

 

Used to be a problem when doing gauge faces on the old Cheby's in the 90's. You would have to warm the truck up and take a picture or mark where the gauges were. Then after removing the needles, warm the truck back up and replace where they went. Otherwise they are resting on the needle stops and not truly in the correct position. No needles stops on these, but having the vehicle in a predictable phase of operation may make it easier to get the needles where they go. Maybe someone else can send a shot of their same model in a warmed up state and you can use that as a reference.

 

Interesting. Well, my truck just got dropped off at the body shop to be painted. Once I get it back, I'm going to confirm again. I'm pretty confident they're in the right place after some adjusting.

 

I think I had to redo just one. The voltage gauge was a bit off.

No big deal. Can be redone an infinite amount of times... or until it breaks lol.

 

I just took a picture and out mine back where if looked like they went. I think only pulled a couple off because it was an exploratory mission. My gas gauge now reads about 63/64ths when it's full. I'm alright with that. Better than the other way.

 

this is what i did for mine.. ive been happy. in person the whites a wee bit warm. but it looks good enough for me.

 

Can somebody post a YouTube video of
This process ? Looking to do mine

 

You just need to get the gauge cluster out, and disassemble to the point the face comes off. Then wet sand away the green coating. Careful with needle reinstall. It'll look like this, taken from TS, when you sand away the back of the lens - and this person went overboard, sanding away everything. Dan was more selective.

​

 

Oh, and some other details from @Tundradrenalin's post over there:

Remove the odometer bezel.
Remove the needles.
Remove the odometer screen.
Sand the green areas off with some 400-800 grit sandpaper or 00 steel wool.
Test with a flashlight as you go.
If you want, you can change the color of the screen with color film. Or blackout portions with dark window tint (like I did for the km/h).
Reassemble your dash in reverse order.

FYI, the rpm, mph, battery and temp gages will not read correctly if you replace the needles incorrectly. It may be easier to replace those needles while engine is at idle.

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I have a ScangaugeII that I used for replacing the needles accurately. Most others that try this without the Scangauge do it differently. They take pictures of the gauges at normal operating temps and then replace them as so afterward. Replace the needles with the engine running. And take the pics with the engine running! lol. I didn't do that at first and regretted it later with panic. But with the SGII I figured it out.
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This video shows the trick to removing the cluster, with regard to the clip related to the bezel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXUrYCnGz-8​

 

Oh, and I guess I should drop this PDF here too, since it shows the general process.

 

I’m looking to change the color to Orange. Has anyone used a paint of some kind? Seems like the majority of the posts I’ve found reference sanding and sticking with the white look.

 

You really have two options I can think of which would be most effective:

• Remove/re-solder new orange LEDs on the OEM board, and hope you don't eff something up, but you'll probably need to follow sanding approach in reply #21 to get the full effect, so you're not mixing orange and green
• Follow the sanding approach shown in reply #21, then creatively cut some orange lighting gels typically used with stage lighting to secure over the sanded area

I would never attempt to paint/dye the front of the gauge cluster, and if you tried to die the sanded area, I'd be worried about it running/bleeding into areas you don't want orange.

Edit: Here's what I mean about stage lighting gels: https://www.amazon.com/theatrical-gel-sheets/s?k=theatrical+gel+sheets

 

An amber laminx might do the trick.

https://lamin-x.com/one-8-x-8-universal-film-cover.html

 

Ahhh that's what a gel is. Thought it was a paint on thing...

 

Nah, basically just a tinted sheet. What you posted may be the same thing but with adhesive.

We used gels for stage stuff bitd. Need to change the color of a stage light? Pull the cover, slide in the gel sheet color you want to, reinstall cover. Easy peasy. Nowadays everything is multicolor LED, so you just push a button and *POOF*