Gauges on a 1981 GMC Sierra 1500?

[Allison]

So, a day after i bought this truck, the wire harness caught on fire and i had to do a lot of work to get everything going again. a lot of the gauge wires were really burned up and melted together, so subsequently, I wasn't able to get all the gauges going again. I have the battery/volt one, but that is it. [speedo doesn't work, but that's b/c of the cable...]

I was wondering, should I just get new gauges or a kit & just replace everything? what is involved in this & how hard is it?

 

[John]

maybe you can go to junk yard and get the whole wiring harness, if they have one that old.

 

[Rattles]

30 year old wiring............
It is time to replace...........
Here is a link for painless wiring.com

http://www.painlesswiring.com/webcatalog/searchrefined.php?SearchAll=Classic Trucks&refinesearch=Chassis+Harnesses

Call them and you can get sections as needed !
As for the gauges..........
You can get replacement at a junkyard, but the are old and you are taking your chance !
Below is a link to LMC Truck four new gauge's, and below that is a link to Dakota
Digital for nice digital gauges !

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cc/search.aspx?searchItem=gauges&rURL=

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=158/category_id=421/home_id=-1/mode=prod/prd158.htm

Get a Haynes or Chiltons manual for your 81 GMC @ your local parts store and it
will guide you with your project !

Have Fun !

 

[Daniel]

Hi ok kinda had the same problem!! the biggest things you need to make sure your truck is runing ok and is being monitired is water temp, oil pressure, battery, speed, fuel. the first three you can buy a kit for about 35 to 45$$$ that is all together and mounts all together to the dash or floor or whereever and looks pretty good the kit has instructions on how to do everything it takes about 40 mins to install and can do it with basic tools.. the speed cable or gear you can get at auto parts place and do pretty easy.