Joe I have an 83 also and there are no hoses.
I took mine out a couple of months ago and all I did was take off the allen bolts, disconnected the wires and it came right out. Im not sure why it would stick in there like that. Anyhooo.....once you get it out you can take it apart and clean it or do what i did and shake it up and down a few times to loosen the gunk. Did that, put it all together and the guage is just fine.
just my 2 cents worth.