Gauge idea for 48-53 Dodge trucks

[gordsguard]

Hello. I'm likely not the first one to think of this, but I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out so I thought I'd share. I'm getting my old 48 Fargo 1/2 ton back on the road. Stock chassis with sbc and OD trans. I didn't want to butcher or change the dash any more than I had to so I found 2 of the speaker grilles and punched the mesh out of them. I bought a set of Dolphin quad 5'' gauges. The gauges fit almost perfectly in the speaker grille, and I can use the 4 original screw holes to mount the whole thing. It looks very clean, and no work involved! Just thought I'd share. Puts the speedo in the original spot as well.

thanks

Nathan

[Dan Babb]

I did the same thing with my dash. Got the idea from looking at someone else's build. It's like the gauges are made just for the dash trim rings.

I bought an extra square piece to cover the original hole. My plan is to eventually install a radio and mount small speakers to those square plates.

[41/53dodges]

that actually looks pretty cool!

now if it could still have both gauges on the driver side...

[Bob_Koch]

Wow, I didn't know they would fit so well. Like they were custom made to fit.

[gordsguard]

You have to check which brand of gauges you buy. Some of them required a 4 3/8'' hole.....too small. I asked Dolphin and they said 4 9/16'' which is great as the hole opening in the bezel is 4 5/8''.

I'm just tickled with how good they fit. Now just to get the rest of it looking that good!

[NiftyFifty]

What kind of $$$ for your gauges? I wouldn't mind a new speedo...but the rest of my gauges are the 4 in a row style....but my 51 is like hte pics posted

[Dan Babb]

Mine are classic instruments. Around 700 for the set. Having the tach in the speedo drove it up quite a bit.

I had to clearance inside the hole a bit...the dash goes by the hole and needed some easy cutting and a few hits with a BFH.

I figured since I was spending the money for the hemi swap, I wanted very good quality gauges.

[MMcKinney]

I have been looking at just that same situation with those gauges and I didn't think that it would work, but its looks great! Can you give more details on how you mounted the gauge to the bezel? Or may be you made a mount for the guage in the mounting hole and then laid the bezel over the guage and it looks as though it clamps to the guage. Nice work.

Yes it would be nice to have all the guages on the driver side of the truck, but this is the best we can do for our Dodge Trucks because the parts supplier industry does not recognize these trucks like they do the more popular Chev & Ford versions. Who have nearly avaliable part (and in several versions) in a very nice cataloge. Us Dodge guys have to scrable for most of our hard to find parts or go with out.

Now I guess could mount some LED indicator direction lights on the lower gauge pannel along with the high beam, alt, and electric fan LED so I better know when things are going no. The speakers are not a bad idea, or maybe just the ash tray too. Many things to think about.

And again very nice work!

MMcKinney

Caldwell, ID

[Dan Babb]

Gauges come with a U shaped bracket that holds the gauge in place. That bracket just needed a slight bend for it to fit the existing trim piece.

I had come up with a way to do both gauges on the driver side, but didn't think it would look as good.

For the lower gauge, you can get a quad gauge in a 3 3/8 size (classic sells that size). Then you could make a plate to put behind the square trim piece and drill out a round hole in it to insert the gauge.

I just wasn't sure if I'd like the look of a smaller round gauge inside the square trim piece.

Plus the way I have it allows for the radio speakers later on.

[Bobacuda]

All of the ads I see list GM or Ford Pulse Generators for the Speedometer. I assme you still have the Pilothouse transmission, so what Pulse Generator did you use to make it work?

[Dan Babb]

No help here...I'm swapping in a TH350 into my truck.

[Bob_Koch]

I did some googling on Dolphin meters. Found some negatives feedback. Finding negatives on the the internet is nothing new, but like to know - anyone else have good/bad experiences with Dolphins?? It looks like a really nice setup.

[Dan Babb]

Not too many positive things said over at the HAMB from a quick search.

I thought the lifetime warranty you get from Classic Instruments is worth the extra money. If one of the gauges in the quad stops working, at least I know I can get a replacement from them. Other companies don't offer a lifetime warranty

[gordsguard]

My Dolphins were about $300 for the pair. Yes it's cheap compared to Classic, but I couldn't justify a $600 set of gauges in a truck I'm hoping to have less than $5 grand in. Hopefully I didn't make a big mistake. My main reason for the Dolphins was that they fit nearly perfectly. If you use Classic's 3 3/8' gauges now you've got some more fitment issues, and likely won't look as good in the bezel. I'll take my chances I guess.