Or am I just looking at tearing the whole dash and everything that goes with it out to replace. Are there any tips or tricks you guys can share.

 

I copied a post from 2005, you can read this and get a better idea of what you need to do.
If you you want to tackle the job, we can post instructions and pictures. Just be prepared to spend quite a bit of time doing the job.
I think it takes most professional mechanics about 5 hours to do the job.

Not really a big deal, just time consuming. My experience is on a 98 and I think every thing from 98 on would be the same. If your vehicle is older than 98, could be somewhat different.

The column is lowered, not removed. I removed both front seats and the console to give me more room and that only adds an hour or less to the total. To remove the seats, there is a star head bolt on the inside/rear seat track. No big deal, unless you don't have a star socket. When you have the seats out, who knows how much change you may find on the floor. You might find enough to pay for the core.

No special tools needed other than that. When I removed the dash, I took several bags and put the screws in and marked the bag for the area that the screws came from. Really makes assembly a lot easier, that way you have the correct screw and correct length at each level. The only wires that have to be removed/unplugged is the main harness and passenger side airbag. No speedo cable or anything. When you remove the lower dash panels, there was a courtesy light that I took off and you have to remove the emergency release cable which is simple, just look under the dash where the cable attaches to the release mechanism, hold up on the lever and the cable comes right out. I removed the radio and may not have needed to as I think I could have gotten to the antenna wire when the dash was tilted out. The radio antenna wire has to be slid out of some brackets so it doesn't get hung up when the dash comes out. I removed the glove box and again, don't think that was necessary. You can hold up on the metal spring that stops the glove box when it is open (on the upper left corner of the glove box when it is open) and the glove box will pivot down to give you access to the main wiring harness and the airbag connector. Under each speaker grill is one bolt that has to be removed. The speaker itself does not need to come out, just the bolt toward the front by the windshield. When you pry up the trim panel around the defroster, be careful, mine was already broken, and they are not that sturdy. There were 4-5 bolts under there.

When you remove the right inner fender, there are several bolts around the edge of the fender, a couple above the tire and, I think, three at the very front. My Blazer sits kind of high and I did not need to remove the tire. You will need to also pull the battery and battery tray. Leave the computer and water reservoir on the fender. The inner fender will drop down far enough to get to the nuts that you need to remove on the bottom of the evaporator case. The inside one is somewhat hard to get to, I used a ratchet wrench to get to it. I think they are 10mm.

Hope this helps in your decision making.