I was reading Mike S's cluster post and was thinking about my truck. I have a 1996 ford f-150 xlt. It did not come with a tach in it from the factory. My friend has a 95 xlt and his has a tach. Could I just go to a junkyard and buy a instrument cluster with a tach and hook it up? Will i have to do anything special? Will all the wires be long enough behind the dash? Please help me on this.

 

I did the cluster swap on my 96. Everything has snap together connectors, virtually idiot-proof. Takes about an hour to do. Be careful unplugging the connectors from the back of the old cluster, they're a bit fragile.

 

Mark which directoin the plugs go too. You will have to remove the speedo from your set and put it in the new one. There are plenty of other previous posts on this if you need additional help. I'd look back on a few if you don't know how to take it a part, one has some great pictures.


Primary rig is:
95' F-150 EB 300/6 5 spd with 4" Superlift, MSD, Ram Air, Gibson Exhaust, 32" BFG Muds
THERE ARE SOME PICS IN MY GALLERY!! :-)


Then theres:
88' F-250 Superduty 351 + c6
95' Mercury Cougar 4.6L V-8
80' E-350 300/6 and a
3 spd column shifter. Top speed, 65mph, Go Baby Go!

The newest addition to the Ford family is a 99' Mustang GT 4.6L

 

i know this may seem silly, but make sure you get a dash cluster from the same motor and tranny truck you have. if you go mixin tachs from 6 and 8 cylinders you will have problems, and im not positive on the speedo, but if you get one from a differing tanny than yours it could be off. nothing a transmission shop couldnt fix, but it could be a pain. good luck

mike

 

I have a question about doing the swap. When you swap in the new cluster, does the odometer still read the original miles or does it change to what was on the new cluster?

 

The speedo doesn't read off the tranny on a '96. it reads the VSS exciter ring on the diff carrier. The speedo module (PSOM) retains the mileage reading; if you swap instrument clusters you must put your speedo module in the new cluster. It's a very easy swap. The tach is the same for 6 and 8 cylinder engines. I think it takes it's signal off the ignition pickup (i.e. crank position) sensor (PIP)

 

That is what I thought you had to do when switching the clusters. Thanks for the info.