HELP!!! I need to find replacement guage needles

[Estanley]

I've got an 81 4x4 and am in the process of refurbing the dash. All of my guages work fine and look pretty good except the needles. I have a couple that are broken and the rest are really faded. They are too brittle to paint. Someone PEASE tell me that I can get new needles without replacing the whole guage.

[BLE 'BURBAN]

Nope sorry. Gotta yard 'em outta a wrecking yard.

[TheWhiteElephant]

They're pretty cheap on ebay, aren't they? As far as the needles being too brittle to paint, I saw an article several years ago on Hot Rod I believe where they painted them using model paints and brushes.

[jgknowla1]

I just painted mine using one of the little bottles of auto touch up paint. I used the brush instead of the ball-point part. Worked fine.

[RuralRoute C-30]

Recall explaining this once before about painting needles. Mine were faded as well. Tried brushing on a spare gauge and didn't like the result.

So what I did was to take some newspaper or any paper and tear a slit in , carefully tuck it under the needle. Do it a few more times with each piece at another angle, under the needle until the gauge itself is covered and only the needle is exposed. I recall I used some GM red spray paint, the kind from NAPA in the small cans. A few light coats, allowing drying between coats and I liked the end result.


Worked better than trying to brush paint the darn things for me. Plus I too broke a needle once. Tried taking one off. Bad idea as they really are easy to break. Fortunately I had a spare gauge.

Try the spray paint. Beats touching the darn things. They are fragile!

Mark