I just did mine today. Took about an hour.
I thought I might add some pictures of the hardest part (in my opinion)...the removal of the bezel. I use jeweler screwdrivers to wedge between the the case and the bezel in a twisting motion while slowly working my way around the case:
When I was all the way around, I used several to work a section over the lip:
and the widest blade one with blade perpendicular to the case and pulled it around the circumference:
Then the bezel came off.
As others have mentioned, I marked the needle's stop points min and max:
Then I slowly worked the needle as suggested. After about 6 times back and forth easily and slowly without much force, the needle came off.
Unsoldering the ground wire would definitely make the interior work easier. My gear was like chalk and just crumbled in my hands.
I used a medium flat blade screwdriver to press the bezel edge back down...pushing perpendicular to the case and then rolling it down tight. It takes quite a while to work you way around the bezel. Take care not to stress the reset plunger while doing this.
I installed my LED lights and put the gauge back in the car. A quick drive confirmed success:
Time to move on to vinyl and carpet installation.