Thanks Bart!
Start off with finding a good complete dash skin and take all the plugs for the headlights and radio and anything thing else you think you might need.
The parts from the new dash you will need are the fallowing..
(all the ducting behind the dash (heater assembly is the same)
(All the screws)
(Headlight switch)
(Passenger air bag)
(Radio with plug if you want to wire up the OEM one)
(The cup holder)
(Glove box door)
And anything else you can think of lol
Old,
A 9/32 wrench&socket and a flex joint will be your best friend during this swap lol
When these dash's where built they had the everything hooked up and put the hole dash and wiring harness and duckt work in at once so there are 3 screws that are a real mother to get too,
The first two hold the defrost ducting on the left and right of the dash, the other is to the left of the glove box.. I found it easier to unbolt the frame of the dash and let the steering wheel rest on the seat to get to these easier. (The dash frame is a 10mm socket and there are two on each side and one cinda in the middle.)
Once you have taken out all the screws the shell of the dash will pop off and I was able to get the old one and new one over the steering wheel without removing it..
Next up was cleaning up the new ducting and wiring stuff that was very nasty....I used a blow gun and a bunch of wet wipes..
Then start placing it all back together with the 05-07 dash..and run your Upfitter harness now if your going to run the switches.
New,
(NOTE, THE OLD DASH USED SCREWS FOR GOING INTO PLASTIC GOING AROUND THE GLOVE BOX, THE NEW DASH USES THE NORMAL SCREWS CUS IT GOES INTO A METAL CLIP)
The new passenger air bag and glove box bolt right in with no problem. But if your running the up fitter switches you might need to drill a 1/4" hole in the dash frame for the relay box.
Now your onto wiring.
The head light switch was easy, I was hoping to just re pin the plugs but the ends are a different size so just had to use connectors..
The wiring is the same and just wire it up as such,
(NOTE,)the old harness has a white wire with red stripe and two black with violet stripe wires.. The white is for the dinger for when you leave your lights on and I'm not sure about the black ones, (most likely a ground)
But there not needed for the function of the headlight switch.
The new plug is the same apart from a blue/white that is used for the auto lights (not sure how to wire that up or what's involved) and a yellow&black&brown (the yellow and black is for the fog lights witch my truck dose not have yet) not sure about the brown.
The wires not used I just shrink wrapped the ends.
The one thing I found out on the 4x4 switch was despite having the same wiring but different plugs the switch functions are also different.
I wired up the new switch and plug and found that it was stuck in 4high in 2wd and 4high was 4low and 4low was nothing.
So I wired back in the old plug and mounted the old switch on the new panel and there is a small alignment pin on the old switch you will need to cut flush but the bolt pattern is the same. Easy and done.
The radio,
The chart I posted earlier worked good but had to run a switched 12v source to the pink wire on the new plug and the radio works perfectly,6 disc CD player was installed and the 05-07 dash frame had two brackets that will sit flush against where the CD player will mount but I didn't want to mess with that so I just used big self taping screws to hold it into place cus I want a touch screen DVD player with back up camera.
If you get the dash face that has the AC controls cut out you will not need to change a thing, if you get one like mine with the controls built in you only need to rotate the motor speed plug and the vacuum line plug and they clip right in and so dose the rest.
Difference between them. (I have the wood grain style if anyone is intreated in buying it lol)
The only problem I can see with this swap is the new gauge opening is slightly smaller and barley obstructs the view of the lights on the left side of the gauge cluster.(can still see them looking straight down, just slightly in the way)
Hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions.