hello, new guy on this site... i have a 1985 250 with a 6.9 in it. i just got access to a to-be-scrapped 85 250 with a 6.9 in it, unknown condition. no bed, doors, trans, radiator or lockouts. but it does have a factory tach in the dash. i guess i have 2 questions: if i want to put the instument cluster in mine, what all do i need to take off the truck? it would bite to have the cluster and not some relay, sensor or widget that i need to instal it in mine. also, what else on the truck ought to get unbolted ? i guess i am going to look at the glo plugs and the vacuu pump?
thanks for any suggestions...
tfrugal central indiana.

 

tfrugal again... i just got the first truck. always been a cornbinder guy and had a chance to get a ford with the navistar motor, kind of excited. it has a 4 speed, but the clutch linkage is trashed. i think i got that sorted out, but had a ******* attack while doing so. i took the clutch master cylinder off, cutting the red plastic line at the nipple.... never had a clue what the roll pin on the nose was...DOh!!. any tricks to reusing the line? i now have the slave cylinder and line off, as well as that neat little nipple fitting (never had anything with a plastic line before). what to do? is that a dealer only part? feel free to laugh at me, my mechanic buddy did when i asked him....
tfrugal

 

Your going to want a new line.

The instrument cluster is plug and play. You'll have to pull the tach sensor out of the IP Gear Housing, and swap it into your's.

 

thanks... i have to laugh-- it took me a bit to figure out your handle.
i had read on one of these forums about the sensor... like a pipe plug if i remember right.

i also got the line to my clutch fixed-- i think. took some tranny fluid in a can, torched it to a 'rolling boil' and got the end of the line soft enough to push the fitting back in.
it seems tight, and i will be putting it on tonight...

 

tfrugal,
Welcome to FTE and the IDI forum.



Look for the tach sensor plug in out near the IP or alternator.
You can also see where the tach sensor goes in the engine.

You need to change the entire insturment cluster, the non tach cluster does not have the tach circuit printed on the printed circuit behind the cluster.

 

thanks for the picture. i dont know if i should be happy to get such detail, or sad my motor is soooo dirty. the oil adder must have had trouble 'hitting the hole'.....

drove the truck around some today, got a bit of a chug to it. this is my first ford truck, always had a cornbinder. i remember when these came out. i worked for an electrcian, who traded his old ford van in for a 1884 one ton dually with
the 6.9 and a four speed. i remember the dealership not letting us get a tach-- it only came in an option package the boss would not spring for....
when it was empty, i used to get scratch shifting from first to second....(the things that nineteen year old boys do to get fired if they ever got caught).

 

eeer, make that 1984.....

 

dave, i seem to keep seeing you posting good stuff on this forum.... good to have access to smart guys like you.
i took the stuff off the truck, including the pump and gear/housing. the truck is an 1985-- mine is an 1983. my housing nas no boss nor a plug for the tach sensor....is that an early non option? just wondering.

 

i took the starter, alternator, pump/housing, rails injectors, front springs, grill, headlights, fuel filter housing... as well as the dash and sensor.
good to have freebie spares hanging around....

 

The 83 motor was the first year in a Ford, it is a little different from the rest of the 6.9 engines.

When you break as much stuff as I do, you learn to fix it yourself.

Plus, I have been running diesels for a very long time in all kinds of applications.