A Pillar removal for boost gauge install?

[la79]

So how hard is it to remove the A Pillars without breaking them or cracking any snap clips?

Looking to do a boost guage but I know I will need to remove the A Pillar cut a hole and bring everything through.

Anyone have any advice?

 

[brillo_76]

So how hard is it to remove the A Pillars without breaking them or cracking any snap clips?



Looking to do a boost guage but I know I will need to remove the A Pillar cut a hole and bring everything through.



Anyone have any advice?

Lots of sunlight heat in 20 years plastic makes it very brittle. No easy answer on this one. Do the best you can.

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[Hopeless Diamond]

Watch Timmy's video on adding a trans temp gauge. Biggest problem is loosening the screws holding the grab handle

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[Dieselchessy]

Agree, biggest issue is removing grab handle.

But, depending on how big your cable is you can usually just shove it in behind the pillar panel.

 

[la79]

Really the grab handle? I would have thought that was the easiest part. Is it because screws torqued down or rust?

 

[busmup808]

It’s because the screws have blue loctite and the heads get stripped. The bolt doesn’t have a 6 point. U will need a #2 or #3 Philip Head screwdriver to take it out


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[Twan]

Part of the issue aside from the Loctite is the screws are JIS, not phillips. I've got some nice JIS screwdrivers, but I think I'd bust out the impact screwdriver and a hammer first.

 

[UnderFire]

As already stated, Impact driver is sometimes needed to take the screws in the grab handle out because of the loctite. I've never had any of the roofline plastics or clips break, they're very forgiving compared to other pieces of the interior, and realistically overall the only way you'll mess anything up is by doing it completely wrong. Comparing the interior plastics in these trucks to basically any other vehicle of the era they are much better quality.

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[Hopeless Diamond]

Yeah, then I had the threads in the a-pillar strip out, not sure why, never cross thread,they just were soft it seemed. Ended up drilling them out and putting in some threadserts and using bolts. Can just squeak a thin socket into the grab handle. Allen head would be better but may have too long of a head

 

[CWccw]

The steering wheel is DIRECTLY in the way for a impact driver. I ended up breaking mine off so theres now a stripped out screw in the lower hole.

 

[HiLife]

Yes, be careful with this one OP. The threads do have locktite on them. Most usually strip the bolt head on the first go using a Philip's in a JIS screw head.
After that, dremil or breaking the bolt and maybe retap or threadserts.
You can see this can go "not as planned" quickly
Some say not a big deal. But, it may be a big deal if your not prepared after your first go, is a no go.

 

[qrohlf]

Another victim of the grab handle screws checking in.

Stripped the first one and had to bust out the dremel + flathead combo to get it out. The remaining screws came out OK with an impact driver - I found the best way to avoid stripping was to TIGHTEN a quarter turn first, manually, and only then go about removing them with the impact driver.

 

[mtbtim]

Watch Timmy's video on adding a trans temp gauge. Biggest problem is loosening the screws holding the grab handle

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Thanks for the video plug. Here's the video:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fT_2szdKXRM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[la79]

Thanks for all the awesome advice on this. It will be fun trying to remove those screws

 

[SaulG]

Amazed at how hard people go at these screws, it's simple as any other loctite..heat them first! Some of the sunny states with dark paint come out easy around 2pm after sitting outside.
A small butane torch works but gets tricky..easier is a soldering iron..!

 

[ArmArak]

I had to remove the A pillar to install my field monitor. The only issue I had was taking out the top grab handle screw. Absolutely stripped it, broke a tap out inside. I ended up drilling the bolt out and using a helicoil to rethread it. Not ideal but still works well. Other than that you should be ok.

 

[la79]

Finally got these removed. For those of you looking for help. Helps to remove the steering wheel. I ended up trying a impact screwdriver tool and that didn't work. Plus I mangled the head of the screws pretty bad in the process.

So I ended up using a left hand drill bit to drill through them and then a used a 1/8" Multi-Spline extractor for more torque for removal. Takes some extra time to drill through them but worked.