replacing dials on instrument panel

Has anyone replaced their dials on the instrument panel? The dials for heating and temp. control etc look extremely teadious to remove and i am hoping there is away around this. I have striped as far as removing the dash, instrument panel cover and it looks like the next step would be to remove the dials from their fixings to enable me to take the front cover off to access the dials.... as you can probably tell from my ramblings i could do with a little guidance