Dreaded evaporator change

The title says it all.........My 97 evaporator has to be changed so I'd like to hear some tip or tricks you've guys tried. I'm going to take the dash loose, the steering column loose since it doesn't go down far enough with the bolts out and swing the dashboard over to the passenger seat and support it. I shouldn't have to disconnect the wiring on the driver side since I've aready tried this before. I know there's 1 bolt on the inside and 4 screws on the outside firewall and the a/c hoses and heater hoses that need to be removed before setting the whole blower/evaporator/ heater unit on the ground. If you guys know a faster way, please post it.

Thanks

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Originally Posted by NITROUS

The title says it all.........My 97 evaporator has to be changed so I'd like to hear some tip or tricks you've guys tried. I'm going to take the dash loose, the steering column loose since it doesn't go down far enough with the bolts out and swing the dashboard over to the passenger seat and support it. I shouldn't have to disconnect the wiring on the driver side since I've aready tried this before. I know there's 1 bolt on the inside and 4 screws on the outside firewall and the a/c hoses and heater hoses that need to be removed before setting the whole blower/evaporator/ heater unit on the ground. If you guys know a faster way, please post it.

Thanks

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I don't know if these are different or not. but Thunder550 had to do his on his 2000/2001 truck, and I think he might have posted pics on it too

Thanks, I read the thread and he's got alot more aprt on there than I'm going to take off. I'm able to leave the dash intact and swing it out over to the passenger seat and support it with some bungee cords on the pillar handle. I thought about cutting the dash support tube off behind the glove box and cutting a hole in the plastic and welding it back together. Our garage here at work swaps them out in an hour this way but it looks like crap. These are in plant work trucks so it really doesn't matter but for my own truck I'll pull the complete evap and blower box out.

Yep, I did it on my truck. I don't really have any tips or tricks to post about, other than I took the whole damn thing apart. Here's the pics I posted, I dunno if they will help or not.

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...p/IMG_1417.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...p/IMG_1416.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...p/IMG_1415.jpg

Thanks, I'll post pics also so you wont feel alone.

Looks like someone jacked the stuff out of your truck haha, man that one piece is really dusty. That must be from living in Phoenix. Well GL on this one Nitrous, looks like something i never want to have to change.

EFF--you can't take the glove box out? You have to swing the whole dash to the pass seat to get at it? EFF all of that noise...

Yep, there's a support bar behind the glove box in the way and you have to pull the complete unit out about 2 inches and then it'll drop down. It's alot simpler to remove the dash unless you cut the bar out and cut the plastic then weld it back. Pulling it is no big deal just time consuming.

Is the suppot bar crucial? What does it support? Would it take a lot less time to cut it out and and weld it back in versus removing the whole dash?

It just supports the dash assembly. It would be easy to cut it out but you still need to drop the complete heater core/evaporator and blower assembly out and it sure makes it easier to put it back in and align things up with the dash out of the way.