Gear indicator is busted

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Apr 20, 2020 | 10:22 PM

Mike Lund

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From: Green Bay

Gear indicator is busted

I have a 1989 F150 XLT Lariat 5.0 and was wondering how to fix the gear indicator. The needle stays at neutral when I shift into gear.

Apr 21, 2020 | 12:35 AM

My4Fordtrucks

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Does it not move at all or does it only move part of the way? Solution 1) The cable the goes from the column to the needle is broken. 2) There is a thumb wheel adjuster to align the pointer.

Apr 21, 2020 | 06:57 AM

Mike Lund

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Quote:

Originally Posted by My4Fordtrucks

Does it not move at all or does it only move part of the way? Solution 1) The cable the goes from the column to the needle is broken. 2) There is a thumb wheel adjuster to align the pointer.

it doesn’t move at all. I tried looking for those two things and couldn’t find them. Are they behind the gauge cluster?

Apr 21, 2020 | 09:01 AM

My4Fordtrucks

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You will need to remove the lower trim panels, the upper panel around the gauges and the from around the column.

This is for an Explorer but it is similar.

Apr 21, 2020 | 09:05 AM

Mike Lund

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Quote:

Originally Posted by My4Fordtrucks

You will need to remove the lower trim panels, the upper panel around the gauges and the from around the column.

This is for an Explorer but it is similar.

any tips for removing the cluster? I’ve heard it’s tricky because you don’t want to break the speedometer cable.

Apr 21, 2020 | 09:12 AM

My4Fordtrucks

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Be careful? There isn’t a whole lot of slack in the two wiring connections and even less in the speedometer cable. Find someone with small hands to reach behind the cluster?

Apr 21, 2020 | 09:09 PM

1TonBasecamp

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From: San Jose, CA

Been there, hunted down neighbors with smaller hands! I'm must thankful that by the time my '93 rolled out they'd gone to electronic speedos and had learned to spend a few cents on longer wires.
Still a bit of a fiddly mess taking the cluster out, but the old stumbling blocks are finally gone.

Good luck!

Paul