Here's the situation. Got a used cluster for my 1984 F150 (part E1TF10C956-B), has tach and tripometer. Didn't pay attention that my old cluster (E1TF10C956A) had dummy lights and the plug is 14 pins not 18 like the "gauge" cluster. My old cluster is shot...lens missing, needles broken off gauges, etc. I don't think I can make it work without a new harness, which is not the way I wanted to go. It's a shame too, the cluster is nice with everything I wanted! Suggestions? Anyone want to trade a nice dummy gauge cluster so I can direct swap? Or maybe someone has the "gauge" version harness to help me out? Thanks in advance fellas!

 

Swapping from oil/alt warning lights, to a full gauge cluster requires extensive rewiring. I believe the whole dash and underhood harnesses both are different.

 

Thats what I figured. There is a dummy light cluster on ebay but its for a manual trans and I have an automatic. I know the opposite works, but can I use it and add the shift indicator?

 

This isn't that hard. You don't necessarily need a new harness to make it work. What you need is just the 18 pin plug from a donor truck harness empty of pins, two extra pins, and the temperature sensor and oil pressure sensor from a gauged vehicle. The fourteen existing wires from your existing truck harness will map to the 18 pin harness, and they aren't very difficult to move. The two additional pins will be two tach wires that don't exist with your current harness, and will have to be wired in. It won't take you even an hour to move the 14 wires to the new plug. I'll bet you can do the whole job in two hours. If you give me till tomorrow afternoon I can map the whole job on a spreadsheet. The shift indicator plates are a twenty second change if the clusters are out.

 

I have the utmost respect for Bill's wiring mods. He helped me to overcome the "One year only" gauge cluster for my 1980, and install a 1985 tach/trip reset cluster that everyone said wouldn't work. Thanks again Bill. 30 seconds of swapping wires, and I'm now at 81-86 standards.....
However, I do have to ask. Isn't it the alt and oil that are lights? I've always heard that the alt light to gauge swap requires a different dash/engine harness, due to the way the charging system is wired.

 

I've heard that before too, but don't see any evidence of it. I'll do a deep dive on the wiring, but the wiring diagrams I have show no difference in the 81-84 gauge and idiot light circuits other than the gauge cluster connection. I don't even see a difference in the 80 schematics. Neither show anything but an uninterrupted connection between the sensors and the gauge cluster. And all the other wires map over. To be honest, given the way Ford likes to do plug and play harnesses it makes much more sense that the curcuits would be similar rather than having a charging circuit run through idiot lights....

 

I can wait as long as you need to map the job, and greatly appreciate it! Luckily, when I got the "gauged" cluster it had the 18 pin plug in it with the wires cut. I would absolutley love to add a tach, trip, and get rid of the dummy lights!

 

Standby...now that I read your post again I get what you're saying....let me look at it.

 

If anyone can track it down, I have faith it would be you.

I'd love to see a simple solution to this.....

 

Still doable, just going to require two more new wires that will splice into the alternator harness and the capping of two existing wires. I'll figure the exact spots for the splices and include those on the spreadsheet. I've got an extra harness in the shed that I want to look at tomorrow to give you good splicing locations.

 

Hmmm, I feel another archive-worthy post coming soon........

 

Awesome! I appreciate the help! It's a 300 I6 4x4 in case that matters.

 

I have one for a 1982 Ford F-150 Auto. (I have two actually) I would be willing to sell, cheap.

 

Bill's right. It's not that hard. I was going to mention the need to change the wiring between the alternator and regulator (adding a shunt), but I see he's already caught that.

 

I'll do the full mapping of all the wiring swaps while the games are on this afternoon, but as far as the ammeter wiring goes, here's what I've found. I'll make the slight disclaimer that I have not done this job personnaly, but based on what I'm seeing in multiple wiring schematics and some additional internet research, I don't see a reason this won't work. Disconnect the battery before trying any of this. Get yourself some good electrical supplies including a soldering gun, 16-18 ga and 10 ga wire, and silicone fusion tape before starting the job.

1. Disconnect pins 12 and 13 on the existing truck harness. Cut and cap these wires. They won't be used again.

2. Run new 16-18 ga wires from pins 8 and 9 in the new gauge connector through the firewall to the area of the starter solenoid. The factory colors for these wires would be red/orange at pin 8 and yellow/green at pin 9. It's not critical to match the colors, but if you can match them, or come close and make good notes, it will help a susbsequent owner or tech who may need to work on the truck in the future. We see enough cursing of POs on here.

3. Splice the wire from pin 8 into the fusible link coming off the starter solenoid that's red above the fuse and black/orange below. When making all these splices, try to just remove a section of insulation without cutting the exsiting wires, then spread the them and weave the new wires in. Make the splice below the fuse. Do not make this permanent yet.

4. Splice the wire coming from pin 9 into the yellow fusible link coming off the starter solenoid. Make the splice below the fuse. Do not make this permanent yet.

5. Make a shunt by adding a 30 inch length of 10 ga wire between the two splices you made above.

6. Make the connections permanent by soldering and wrap them with the fusion tape. Silicone fusion tape works so much better than electrical tape because it fuses to itself making a permanent weather tight bond. You could use shrink wraps for this too, you'd have to use really big pieces to get them over the ring terminals and fuses since you don't want to cut the wires.

That should get the job done. It's pretty straight forward and only requires some simple soldering skills. Probably no more than an hour for this part of the job.