Ok got gobs of help from you guys so thought I’d try to pass it on! Tye dash in my comanche was toast so took one out of a cherokee. When I say toast I mean no padding broken everywhere so tossed it. The dash I have was in pretty bad shape so the repaired it. Lots of info and ways to go about it but this was the cheapest and easiest way, not to mention the only one I’ve ever done. Was gonna use bondo but I don’t like bondo even for what it’s supposed to be used for. Those get about fiberglass and almost went that route. Looked into the padded dash filler stuff but decided to use something else. Jb weld marine was what I decided to use cause it stays a bit flexible thought this would be perfect but last second I decided on jb weld plastic bonder. Basically cleaned dash filled in the openings and cracks let dry and sanded with a mouse palm sander. Kept repeating til the gaps were full. It’s a bit runny but if you let it sit bout 10 mins or so it’s starts to thicken and get real sticky. Once it sanded to a level I could live with I shot it with harbor freight iron armor bedliner. Stuff is amazing! I’d let dry sand clean respray til I had the finish I wanted and that’s it. I did spray a coat of bedliner on it before I started to track fill in process. Done for less than $15! You can coat it with a lacquer coat to make cleaning easier later on. I wouldn’t use polyurethane. Plastic is for toys and vibrators. Hate that stuff. It provides a super tough finish but one scratch and you can’t blend it regardless what tools you have. Plus you either have the I just wrapped this in cellophane or dipped it in a vat of goo. I used to repair high end and collector guitars and poly sucks! Lacquer has a much nicer finish and easy to work with. It will burn into itself so touch ups are a breeze. With poly it won’t ever pass the light test. You will see a wave or blur no matter how hard you try. Anyway I digress. Here are the pics and I know they ain’t great but best I can do. Gonna spray a satin clear on it. Hope this helps some of you guys as it’s either try to find one not busted and pay $500 or 600, live with the cracks, use tape, or do those ugly carpet over lays. Sorry if your one who uses a carpet overlay but I’ve always thought they were ugly. Better than cracks but not by much. Peace

Sprayed a coat of bedliner and then started sanding

The vinyl was busted and missing

Crack


This was after I did first fill with plastic bonder

Finished

Finished

Finished

 

That looks really good.

Do the repaired areas still have some "give" when you firmly poke it with your finger?

 

yes, the filled in area doesn’t but the cracked areas do. Tye big issue is tye vinyl is so brittle after years of sitting and neglect which the bedliner gives it sort of a second skin? So to speak. I’m gonna eventually cover it with some super thin aluminum to match my door panels ect. They have some leather that sticks on stuff you could also use if you wanted. If your dash isn’t super brittle this would be good to go as is and may still be. It’s gonna be a bit before I get the aluminum I want cause that stuff is higher than a pissed cats back but it seems good to go as is. I can’t speak for other bedliner stuff but harbor freight is very very tough, rustoleum might work better here cause it seems more rubbery and I may coat it with some. I use both. Rustoleum is super easy and cleans up with water. Does a good job so far. Harbor freight is insanely tough and you ain’t cleaning squat with it. Gas acetone xylene thinner nothing takes this stuff off. Whatever you use to apply it you throw away. Their spray cans work great and do an awesome texture. I used cheap rollers from dollar store to roll on when I didn’t spray can it. Il report more later. Gonna slap it in for now. Hope this helps. You guys have saved my *** many times!