[rudeney]

I assume you bought the polished aircraft-grade aluminum rings? That’s what I have and you are right, they are a very tight fit. However, I like them much more than the plastic stick-on style because they leave more of the markings on the dial visible and they don’t tend to fall off after the truck has been sitting in the hot summer sun all day.

To make it easier to install them, you can gently bend the flange of the trim ring. I believe the instructions actually suggest this. I had to do this on all three of mine. Be very careful, though, as to not make the flange into a polygon as opposed to a circle. I just did the bending with my fingers, which seems difficult and you feel like you aren’t making any progress, but you actually are angling the metal just enough to aid it slipping into the opening. Also, you might consider removing your wood panel and taking it to a workbench for the installation. It’s easy to remove – just pull the radio out, then the wood panel will unsnap from the dash, undo a few wiring connections, and it’s out.

As others have pointed out, you likely did break the bulb that is behind the center dial. It’s and easy fix. Just grasp the dial tightly with your fingers and pull it from its mount. You will see a small round hole in the clear plastic illumination panel, at about the 6 o’clock position. You may need to use tweezers or small needle nose pliers to remove it. Some have used a small rubber hose to “grip� the bulb and extract it.