Has anyone installed a white gauge kit on a 99 or new F-150? I have order one myself and was told by other friends that the springs that hold the pointers in the proper place will come unwound when pulling them off and the dealer will have to recalibrate the whole gauge system to get the proper reading for all instruments any advice or help would be great before I tackle this project and wind up in a pinch.

 

I installed the apc glow gauges on my '99. i dont know what that kid is talking about with springs coming unwound... there is only two hard things about the install... 1 - you have to take apart the whole dash portion around the steering wheel and gauges ( alot of screws , and a few hidden screws also that sucked ) 2- make sure you mark where your needles are at BEFORE you take them off! start your truck and make notes where they sit while idle. Then pull them strait off and remove the old black gauges..( some glue on them but easy none the less ) slip your new gauges on and start the truck again and place your needles on where they need to be. then just put all the dash parts back and your done! If you have a glowing gauge kit like i do then make sure you dont hook up the wires to the wrong fuse. it will smoke that 100 bux in a heart beat..hope this helps ya

 

It's a fairly easy install, once you know the bolt placement for the dashboard parts. The sneaky one is behind the headlight switch...pull the headlight switch module out and you will find the
'sneaky' bolt. Be sure you have all the clips and rubber point protectors on the dash when you replace it. Pennywise is correct about marking the the needles of the gauges before install...make sure engine is cold. Gently pull the needles straight off, and be sure not to force them on upon replacing them. Good luck!


https://www.f150online.com/galleries...y.cfm?gnum=824

 

thanks guys for the info the kid who told me this story about unwound springs had put them on an inport car and had that problem.

 

Did rice shoot out when he did that? A fortune cookie perhaps? Let us know how it goes and take some pics! I still havent put any of my own pics on yet but i will. good luck brother

 

Hey Penny when you speak of the glue on the gauges do you mean you have to pull the black gauge cluster off the whatever it sticks to or can you just lay the whiteface over the black? for the record the one I am getting is the speedglo that lights up blue/green at night but white by day I found it in Ebay for $27.00 and it should be here today. thanks again for the help I will let you know how it turns out

 

Just pull the old one off , its a tuff flexable plastic so it wont break or tear. I would definitly take it off if your putting in a glowing kit. I tried puting mine on top when i first did it and all the indicator lights( headlights and seat belt kinda stuff ) would light up unevenly. The actual back lightning that you dont remove that is behind the stock gauges will have to punch the light through both sets of gauges. doesnt work out that way.. just yank that sucker off and put the new one in its place..make sure you tuck the edges in correctly and wipe all your finger prints off the gauges before you put the dash back on. ( guess who did that ) good luck

 

Actually, some of the glow kits (such as mine) are made to go over the olde black face. If you take the black face off, the background light shines through at night ruining the cool glow look.

 

What's the best way to get the glue off there when you pull the old face off? I changed the gauges in my mustang one time and what a mess. The left over glue made a mess and you could tell it when the lights were on. I want to do the truck right. Know where to get a good carbon fiber face by the way???

 

you can find carbon fiber bezels all day long on e-bay. I dont know of any carbon fiber gauges except for the glowing kind on www.jcwhitney.com .My old gauges just pulled right off, the glue was practically non-existant and definitly wasnt sticky or anything. just pull a bit off and youll see what I mean