Old member back again after a few years of hiatus. Great to see site is growing. I have a question about removing padded dash pad. If I take it off first what is best way and then is it the same as a dash without pad? I have another dash without the pad but don't want to switch them out I don't have to. Looking for bare dash look.
mine was the same... I went "naked" also... they are glued down so you will need to find or make a long scraper.. and gently pull and scrape... sorry, but it isn't an easy or a pretty site to see.. good luck!!!
I wanted to save mine and have it recovered. Since I was going to replace the windshield anyway, I broke it to safely get the stainless trim out, and then worked the dash off with a wide scraper from the front of the truck.
Even though it had large cracks in it, it came off in one piece, and cost me $250 to recover. But it wouldn't have come off as easily if I hadn't had the windshield off.
And yes, the metal dash underneath is the same, no difference with an unpadded dash.