Today, on start up, no gauges, nothing, no gear selector, battery light works, dont think stepper motors, thinking connection issue or bad ground. cleaned the ground on frame under drivers feet but did nothing, thanks for any help

youtube is your friend, watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FxkK9J7jo4

You can get a reman cluster from Dorman also.

2001 isn't one of the "problem" clusters. That doesn't mean they can't give problems they're just not the ones where they all quit working. The widespread (servo) problems started in 2003. The connectors are kinda janky on the 2001's. I'd take it out, unplug and plug it in a few times and see if it starts working.

Turned out to be a bad ground on the back of the block

Thanks for posting the fix!!

I'm a little late on this one. Also check the ground on the driver's side cab mount under the driver's floorboard. The 8.1's have a ground there also. Most of these trucks end up with a ground issue at some point.