Dash Light Mod Success

I've been reading a bunch about people doing the LED dash light mod to change colors but I have only read of a few people who had troubles with it. What was your outcome? I'm hoping to do the mod when I get my truck in a little over a month.

Nicest dash light change I've seen done
Orange + Red?? Yuck!! (How to change gauge colors)

 

Went Flawless and only took about 1 hour. the only way you can screw this up is if you do NOT know how to solder.

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and the thread.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/lighting/35020-dash-mod-complete.html#post556048

I used the same how-to as you have posted.

 

Thanks I've done some basic soldering kits but never done any surface mount component soldering.

 

Looks too hard for me

 

How hard is it to solder? I've had very little experience with it, but I thought I could just wing it and it would come out ok. This is pretty much the only reason I don't want to start this mod.

 

It's really not that hard. Just takes patience and a steady hand. best thing I can offer is just find any old board and give it a little try. main thing is you do not want to burn the board.

 

Cool, sounds easy. I'm sure there is a how-to on the internet somewhere right? I can google it!

 

I really want to do this mod too!!! But I want to change everything. The dash, plus the A/C controls and the radio. I'm just kind of a wuss at trying to do it!

 

Check the DIY Sticky on ToyotaNation.com it is the largest and most complete sticky for any type of mod for these trucks!

They A.C. controls requires that you strip the paint and repaint the numbers and symbols of the controls. (Not worth it! IMHO)

But the dash lights and the Radio are LED's!

 

This looks like a tough MOD to do. I am afraid I could mess up my entire gauges.

 

Soldering is something that should be practiced alot before you do it. Make sure you have plenty of flux, and use it generously. You should always have some alcohol to clean up your solder joints when you're done. I use a small horsehair brush cut down stubby so its stiff to clean up the joints with the alcohol. If you're worried about overheating wires, use a heatsink. Usually gator clips at the base of the wire (before it goes into the insulation) will do the job. Make sure you have a decent soldering iron as well. I have a cheap Radio Shack dual heat here at my house, but 9/10 times I will just go into work and use our good ones. The Radio Shack one doesn't really put out enough heat, but with a good amount of flux it will do the job.

If anyone has any questions about how to solder, just PM me.

 

^ Ummm, What?

 

You lost me. Try that one again?

Desoldering is easy, heat it up with a little bit of solder on your tip already... this is called using a solder bridge, it will instantly head the solder already holding it in. Use a pair of forceps or tweezers to remove what you need to. Clean up the joint with alcohol and get ready to put your new one in. Always use a solder bridge in this case to keep from burning your board up. Always remember to clean your solder joints and anything thats going to be soldered with alcohol, otherwise you'll end up with a shitty job that will leave room for problems in the future.

 

wow im soo lost

 

as was I... I just tried to explain things in english, hopefully he understands

 

has anyone tried red gauges with white needles?

 

I had no problem. I used a 15w solder from radio shack and I hardly used extra solder. It did take about an hour, and taking the dash down is about 3 mins and it takes another 2 mins to take the instrument cluster apart. It does take a steady hand and some practice, but its not as complicated as you would assume.

 

the gauges look cool, but i would want the radio and climate controls to match. so for me its why bother if I cant have them match.

 

The way I look at it now for me at least is I'll be getting my truck in a month and a half and I have been reading the forms looking at mods I think would be cool to do, though since I will have a new truck unless I can pretty guarantee that I wont mess it up, I'm not going to do the mod until the truck already has a few scratches dents and other signs of age. I do have some experience soldering different kits you can buy at radioshack and I fixed a USB drive that the connector plug came off of but all those jobs were on really cheap electrical components that don't affect something major like the odometer when its messed up.

 

This has been on my hit list for some time and looks like I'll be doing it next week some time.

This morning I bought a kit on ebay. The seller offers a "best offer", so I got the kit for $12.00. The buy it now price is $19.99, so I'm basically getting free shipping.

Here's the link if anyone is interested:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=390047668583