[G. L. Grumpy]

Well, one torn down, other almost done. If you recall I was wondering how to remove steering wheel. One tractor I ground off end of shaft at gear, tried to drive out. Didn't do much. I ended up heating, not much, then ended up blowing the shaft out some till it let go when hitting with punch. That gear sure wants to start melting easy, hope I didn't wreck too much. Have another to try, hope it goes better. AND, that gear is machined to fit up into that column tube, no wonder it didn't just fall off at first! So now I have shaft out and dash I wanted to save is off.

On the fiberglass dash......how does one clean those up to paint? I'm assuming just sanding, but can you go too course and sand thru the glaze and have trouble? I might try those little gasket surface cleaner discs for my die grinder and see what they do. Those little 2" scotchbrite discs. What kind of grit paper otherwise should I use? Would think too course and it would all be permanent scratches in the glaze. Maybe one should only wet sand??

AND, any special paint needed for fiberglass? Will probly be using Cub Cadet white if no problem.

 

[Dude11]

There is no tried and true way to remove those steering wheels,I wind up cutting'em off and replacing the wheel.As for the dash--work it as you do any body part,not so much grinding,sanding from 180 grit to 300 maybe.The slicker the finish the slicker the paint job,as always,prep is where the work is.Let's see some pics.if possible.:trink40:

 

[Randy_Linex]

I think the dash's are painted from the factory, not gelcoated like a boat (if thats what your meaning by "glaze"). When I sanded mine it was grey underneath. Use fine grit sandpaper or sanding disc, 200 grit and finer as it is VERY easy to take too much material away, especially around the edges. Check out my 1976 Suburban Restoration build thread, I think I took some pics of the sanded dash, if not, I know I had pics in there of the sanded grill, which is similar to sanding the dash.

 

[GT_80]

sand it, prime it, sand it with finer grit till there is no more scratches or bumps, then paint it. You won't be sorry