Tach cluster swap was the first thing I did to my 94 f-150. One of the things he didn't cover in this video is if you have an auto, you have to unhook the cable for the PRNDL. I found its easiest to drop the knee bolster and you can get it unclipped and slid out without taking the column surround apart. As he found out Ford runs the charge circuit through the cluster. 94-97 clusters will work for everything but the alternator. 92-93 clusters, 94-95 clusters, 96-97 clusters interchange. I also find using a fork to remove the needles from the cluster is the easiest. Just slip the fork under the needle and lightly press the needle up.
Thanks for all this, just one question, How did you fix the Exciter Wire for the alternator on yours, what I did was run a hot in run jumper wire, but thats just a shade tree fix, I imagine there is a better, or recommended way. Hey and thanks for helping out, I really dont have all the answers and I depend on you all as well.
@@AintScaredGarage I pulled 2 clusters from the yard and one happened to be the right age range for my truck. I didn't have to change anything to get the charging system to work.
nice video! I'm glad you're happy with the results, that's all that matters. little tip I've discovered from doing this a lot, before you ever take the gauge cluster out at all, let the truck fully cool overnight and take a picture of the gauge cluster( with the key on-but not running) from a stationary point, that you would normally view from. then, after your color change and led swap, when its time to put the needles back on, don't install them, put the gauge cluster back in the truck fully assembled(minus the front plastic and needles)and turn the key on. then look at the picture you took. use it as reference to where the needles should be. and carefully place the needles back making sure you press straight down and don't turn as you push. then you can start and drive the truck and see how it looks. if you are satisfied, remove the gauge cluster, dust it off and replace the front plastic. since you don't have a cluster that hasn't been apart to reference from, you could get another factory assembled cluster and install it temporarily to get your readings from, to match your modified cluster to. Doing this method with the ignition on powers up the needle motors , puts them in the correct position, and stops them from flopping around while you carefully reinstall the pointer needle. Also, you don't have to change all the bulbs to get the red look you were going for, the high beam, check engine , and other separate lights are all separate bulbs that wouldn't be necessary to change for the red look, if you look where the bulbs sit, you'll see partitions where the light is divided up for the different indicators. you only need to change the ones that light up a large area inside the cluster and not the ones in the little partitions.
Now thats a good idea, I'will use that in the future, Thanks, and I didn't change all the bulbs, well I did but I put white LED's in places like the warning lights and the high beam light, as I wanted all LED's, but the red ones are only where the numbers are, Thanks again and always bring that wisdom to us, as a collective we can do anything, Thanks
hey Mikey, I'm planning on doing this soon but currently my gas gauge is a little off. What do you recommend when installing the needles back into place?
@@G93KMA well, if it's not a sending unit in the tank problem, which I would check first. The only other thing I can think of would be to completely run it out of gas then set the needle to just barely below E
This channel is a hidden gem, I really enjoy your content. This was so entertaining & interesting to watch too, the whole PNDR21 aka Pernandle pronounciation thing was cracking me up too. 😂
So it dorent need to be a 5 speed, all you do is take out the Prndl {automatic shift indicator} and insert your blank one, The one I started with was a Automatic.
Thank you for making this video, was very in depth and appreciative the camera work. Makes it easy to see what yoy are doing and talking about. If I may ask, my "P R N D 2 1" on my 92 F250 "works" when shifitng however the tack itself when in Park is at "1". When i shift to R, N, D, etc the tack just goes to the right off the display. I assume it should be an easy fkx but im unsure if i need a new part rather than fixing the old one. Could be the tack needs to just be moved. Thanks!
great information thank you so much. was the cluster with the tach taken out of a 4.9 6 cyl, or a V/8. if it was is there a switch you change in the back from 6 to V/8 if it was, was it a direct connect plug and play where you didn't have to change any of the plug pins and re-route
I dont remember if it was a V8 but the truck I got it from was a Flareside extended cad that was loaded, so I think yes it was V8, and yes plug and play except for the Volt meter, you may have to do a search on that, there is a wire that should supply the 12 Volts to the alternator exciter that may not, I fixed that issue the wrong way and put a 12 Volt in run wire directly to the alternator, it worked but I dont know for how long, I DO NOT suggest doing that, but it's your truck, otherwise, it was plug and play
The truck is a 95 and I think the cluster is a 93 and that may be the reason I had to add the exciter wire to the alternator but other then that it all worked fine, Dodge Ram was correct when he said to hold the Reset button on the speedo and turn the key to run, but dont start the engine, the speedo went to the top and back to 0 and now it it is re-calibrated, however the other gauges looks like are still kind of a guessing game as they did not move
Hi, I did the cluster swap from a 96 bronco to my 96 F150. Everything looks fine beside the Temperature gauge. It does go from C to the first mark of the "NORMAL" range. Drove it around for awhile and it still not come up to like where it was before the swap. Heat and AC works fine.... what do you think is the cause and any suggestions of what I should do? Thank you.
Those Ford temp gauges are not much more then over glorified idiot lights, the oil gauge is the same, I put in aftermarket gauges cause I just dont trust the stock Ford ones, I got mine on the pillar but you can just put them on the bottom of dash if you want, but I would put in a set you can trust.
The trick to knowing where all your gauge needles were originally is to put a mark on the gauge cluster face itself at the tip of each needle before you pull off your needles erasable marker ect. & or take a picture as well
I appreciate you putting all the time and effort into walking through all the detailed steps. I just picked up a 1994 F-150 for my son and I'm sure some Mods will soon be in store :-) Any suggestions on where to pickup secondary Instrument clusters like you used given these trucks are old and not easy to locate parts?
Actually you can find them all day in your local junk yard, they made a mess of these trucks and at this point a lot of them are being discarded as just old junk by people who arent Car and Truck enthusiast, I know here in MD I can always find 4 to 7 in any junk yard I go to, remember if it's a specialty truck like a short bed or flareside, the parts from the back of the cab forward are the same as the long beds. Thanks for the comment and let us know how the build goes
You could be right, I'm pretty sure it was a V8, but I think other then the tach the gauges are the same, and the Speedo is the one from my truck, after moving the needles they seem to be reading fine
Here's a link to another video where the guy talks about calibrating your gauges - . ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XqmTd0AMkyQ.html&ab_channel=ClusterFixWashington Apparently there is a connector under the glove box - a blue wire with a yellow tracer and.... Oh, oh, you're going to have to take notes cause you have to ground "that" wire with the key off and holding the reset button in blah, blah, blah. The instructions start at the 7:30 mark but the whole video in quite informative. I'd just like to thank you for taking the whole cluster apart so I can see what to expect when I do my cluster. My switch to go from the front gas tank to the rear gas tank seems to work but the gas gauge doesn't seem to read the fuel levels. I wish the Lord would hurry up with the warm weather so I can get outside and play with my toys. I'm going bonkers with cabin fever. Damn Canadians can't seem to contain their cold air and keep it above the border.
Boy Howdy I agree about the weather LOL, thanks for the link, if anyone is changing there Tire size, bigger or smaller thats how you adjust the speedo, Good link, Thanks
about the calibration I know you must disconnect the negative terminal of the battery and alligator clip it to the positive terminal and turn your lights on and leave for 10 minutes, let all of the charge get out of your truck and that makes sure it's a cleaner reset
I’m considering doing this to my 93 f150 and have a question if I don’t take the needles off because I don’t want to change the color will the gauges be accurate from the start instead of slightly off
So to answer that I would have to say, if they are accurate on the truck you get the gauge pod from then they should be accurate in you truck, however just remember Ford stock gauges are basically over glorified idiot lights, if you want to accurately monitor the Oil, and temp {the volts should be fine} add some aftermarket gauges as well, I did the dash just for the looks I dont trust the stock Ford Gauges, and they are way off from the real reading I'm getting from my added gauges. Thanks
I have automatic trans what would the cable be call i think I broke it pulling it out your very go and I'm happy I have the same truck your help me on thanks for be there
I’m a little late to comment, but I’ve been wondering does it matter where you put the needles back in place or does it automatically know where the needle should be? So basically I’m asking should I be putting the needles back the same direction they came out?
Well thats the trick, I had someone mention that you can re calibrate the gauges , but it only does the Speedo, you need to know ware to put them back on, thats the tricky part because the gauges move when you tack them out of the truck
@@AintScaredGarage the cluster in the 90s f150 is really similar to the 90s rangers but I don’t know if the cluster with a tach has any extra wiring that the non tach cluster has
@@AintScaredGarage I got it done, well worth the 3 hours of q-tip goof-off clean-up on the green cluster. Check it out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OMie2q2h8bs.html
How accurate are your needles after installation since you’ve uploaded this video, I just finished doing this and my needles are way off and i don’t know how to make them read right
Well the oil gauge is where the old one was, the Volt meter I took a reading of the voltage at the battery with a multi-meter and pulled the needle off and stuck it back on close to what the battery reading was and now its pretty close, the temp I warmed the truck up to operating temp and placed the needle about where it normally ran at operating temperature, I knew about how much gas I had so that was easy, the speedo I did on a back road at about 10 MPH, that was tricky its' about 2 MPH off, but I can live with that. Let me know how you make out, hey just a thought, fill the tank and place the needle on full, oh and dont run the tanks lower then 1\4, thats how fuel pumps burn up.
No the truck is wired from the factory, the only issue you may have is the alternator, you may have to ad a hot in run to the exciter port for it to charge, it all depends on what year you get the cluster from
@@AintScaredGaragehow would I go about doing this? Any videos on it I’m currently having that issue with the alternator, put the cluster in with the rpm gauge and my truck won’t charge.
I think it was like 6 but I dont remember, after I took it apart I realized I bought too many as there are other's that need clear bulbs like the turn signals, high Beams, ABS light and the Check Engine light
That would be a good Idea, the only thing is its real easy to move the post that they are on, I dont know if that would have helped me, it might have but I was replacing the gauges that originally came with the truck, so I dont know, but that's a great suggestion
Do you have a famous brother? Man, you remind me of someone. Just can't put my finger on it. Anyway, thanks for the info. I'm planning on doing the same thing on my 91 ranger.
This is what I got and they look pretty good, but I just searched Amazon to find LED bulbs, I hope this helps www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YJT4VXB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You never showed were the red lights go my app gage will not work ever thing else you did a great job don't know amp gage has a fues tried every thing I have same truck know know speedo or amp been mo trying shop won't work on it go 3000 dollars more parts to put on it but tell I get gags work don't want go on thank you
Passably you got a bad cluster, also you said it was an Amp Gauge, mine dose not have an amp gauge it has a volt gauge, but I would check out the gauge itself, Also I dont trust those gauges I added aftermarket ones on the pillar so I know for sure what I got going on in the engine
Hold the reset button or select, I forgot which one and turn key yo run not start but run and they should do a full sweep and go back to 0 at that point set your dails to 0 also, also incase you don't know you can calibrate the speed o and millage for different tire sizes!
I knew about the tire but not the reset, I will try that tank's, thats what's great about this I surely don't know it all you all see me bumble through stuff, but this community will step in and help out. Again thanks ill let you know how it goes
You are correct fine sir, I held down the reset button and the Speedo did the reset, however the other gauges did not, Thanks Man, I know there had to be a way
Yep, the nice thing is that you can make it how you like it, but if you like green you dont have to do anything, but if you order white LEDs you can make it a little brighter if you like, thanks for the comment
I would lime to replace the electric gauges with mechanical,at least the oil and temperature , without having to have extra equipment screwed in the dash or door jam ,
Thank you so much for the vote of confidence, I dont think I will get a video out this week, I have a project that snowballed on me, Imagine that LOL, I hope to get it done and out by next week, but it's going to be 25 F on Saturday as the high so, we'll see, Thanks again
Actually the milage is stored in the speedo that may not be true on OBD2 but this is the old OBD1 ,you can totally change the computer and it won't change the milage
@@AintScaredGarage When you get a new computer they have to program it with the mileage! they have always asked me for the mileage when changing the computer!