The Ford Barn

Jim.UT · 10-28-2025, 01:34 PM

It started out with the left blinker indicator going out. The front and rear lights still blinked but the left indicator on the dash quit illuminating. So I crawled under the dash and pulled out the left bulb (hardest one to get to, of course). It was a GE #51 bulb which my internet research tells me is a 6V bulb. This car has been converted to 12V so I figured that's why it burned out. Further internet research told me that the 12V equivalent is a GE #53. So I bought a bunch of bulbs and got to work changing them all out. It turns out the one that burned out is the only #51 in there. The others were stamped 1446. I've not done any internet research on that.

Then I caused myself a problem. While thrashing around behind the dash, trying to get my arthritic ham fists into the right place and bending my unnaturally long arms in weird ways to get my elbows past the lower lip of the dash, I managed to break the wire off the pigtail for the Hi Beam indicator light. There is just no way I'm going to be able to repair that from the floor of the car. Just no room under there for my hands to operate. Plus it makes my 70 year old back complain.

So...I see 4 hex nuts that seem to be holding the dash panel in place. If I remove those 4 (arranged in a semi-circle around the front edge of the instrument cluster) can I just pull the panel forward and lay it face down on the steering column so I can work on the back side from the driver seat?

Anyone who has removed and reinstalled a gauge cluster in one of these cars, please let me know ahead of time what pitfalls I need to avoid.

Thank you. Sorry for the long lead up to my main question.

10-28-2025, 01:34 PM	#1
Jim.UT Member Join Date: Mar 2025 Location: Washington, Utah Posts: 57	55 Fairlane gauge panel removal It started out with the left blinker indicator going out. The front and rear lights still blinked but the left indicator on the dash quit illuminating. So I crawled under the dash and pulled out the left bulb (hardest one to get to, of course). It was a GE #51 bulb which my internet research tells me is a 6V bulb. This car has been converted to 12V so I figured that's why it burned out. Further internet research told me that the 12V equivalent is a GE #53. So I bought a bunch of bulbs and got to work changing them all out. It turns out the one that burned out is the only #51 in there. The others were stamped 1446. I've not done any internet research on that. Then I caused myself a problem. While thrashing around behind the dash, trying to get my arthritic ham fists into the right place and bending my unnaturally long arms in weird ways to get my elbows past the lower lip of the dash, I managed to break the wire off the pigtail for the Hi Beam indicator light. There is just no way I'm going to be able to repair that from the floor of the car. Just no room under there for my hands to operate. Plus it makes my 70 year old back complain. So...I see 4 hex nuts that seem to be holding the dash panel in place. If I remove those 4 (arranged in a semi-circle around the front edge of the instrument cluster) can I just pull the panel forward and lay it face down on the steering column so I can work on the back side from the driver seat? Anyone who has removed and reinstalled a gauge cluster in one of these cars, please let me know ahead of time what pitfalls I need to avoid. Thank you. Sorry for the long lead up to my main question.