LMC Truck Coverlay Dash Covers for first gen Rangers any good?

[86 ranger]

I am dealing with this now on my 1986. One shop wants 700 to recover it and I have a guy coming today to look at it and give me a price. I may end up using the cover on it

 

[bobbywalter]

so i had young bob take a pic of one in the attic that has been waiting for who knows how long to go in my ranger once it gets reworked or a better cab

its off in color but decent.

unfortunately....it ....must of cracked from lack of moonlight...

naturally ..... anything is better then whats in the ol filthy work beast....

 

[svtcards]

It has one of those on it now. It looks ok, but id rather fix the dash.

If mine wasn't so warped I would of done the same.

 

[RayInStl]

so i had young bob take a pic of one in the attic that has been waiting for who knows how long to go in my ranger once it gets reworked or a better cab

its off in color but decent.

View attachment 120259View attachment 120260




unfortunately....it ....must of cracked from lack of moonlight...

View attachment 120261






naturally ..... anything is better then whats in the ol filthy work beast....


View attachment 120262

I think cracking in a dark attic tells me all I need to know. Thank you!

 

[superj]

it must be the heat during hte summer?

 

[MT_PLS]

I think cracking in a dark attic tells me all I need to know. Thank you!

it must be the heat during hte summer?

Could the crack be from a box falling on it?

 

[superj]

oh, i didn't think of that. i bet it entirely possible because you always hear stories if bumps in the night

 

[Shran]

I haven't used their dash covers but my experience with their door panels was not good. Very poor quality control.

Buddy of mine had his Maverick dash recovered by an upholstery shop with some sort of foam backed vinyl material. It was just a little bit squishy. They did a super good job on it, I was just shocked how good it looked. No idea how much it cost, probably a lot, but the original was in horrible shape. I don't think a cover would have gone over it without a lot of work trimming off the cracked out spots.

 

[JoshT]

So it might be the state that other overlay lives in could just have a more direct shot of sun, too

It's mostly UV damage from the sun shining througgh the windshield, and it's amazing how much that can vary from one area to another. It's also possible that insome cases the "protectants" used in the past did more harm than good.

I've used one of the covers in the past, but couldn't tell you what brand. That was 20+ years ago so brands and materials both could have changed a lot since then. I do recall that the keyt to getting them installed right was getting the surface clean and clamping the cover solidly in place until the adhesive sets. After than you;ll want to use a sun shield in the windshield any time you're parked in the sun, especially if you live in an area with strong UV.

The one I put on the Ranger back then did not last very long before it too was warped. The sun shields weren't too common back then. They were around, but nobody (at least in my family/friend circle) used them. It was a combination between not getting good adhesion to the original pad, UV and summer heat.

The dash in the current first gen is fairly good. It's blue interior and although it has a crack, it's usable as is. I picked up a decent red one several years ago that might see about getting a upholstery shop to do a vinyl cover on. I still check then any time I find one in a junk yard, but they are normally in worse shape than what I have due to exposure to the elements.

It would be nice if someone would make reproductions for these. Fortunately they make them for my F-100, the dash pad in it looks like a dry lake bed.