If they are like the 47 gauges the opening in the cluster is slightly smaller than the face of the gauges so the plate all are mounted on will not pull straight out. To remove the 47s they need to slide toward one side and then rotate or tilt the entire plate slightly to work the faces on one side out and then once those are out you reverse the process and tackle the other side. When pulling them out you also need to be very careful not to catch the gauge face or needle on the edge of the cluster opening.
Tinman_70 has some photos of 49 gauges on his project blog at the PAC forum
https://www.packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2251 that might shed some light on the constructions. Some start about page 5 or 6 and then there are scattered photos of the instruments and dash starting around page 46 and on to the end where he converts the original gauges to modern and adds AC..
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