Instrument Cluster swap

beenjammin · Mar 12, 2009

How difficult would it be to swap the instrument cluster from an Explorer into a 2000 ranger? I think getting a tach that way would be cleaner than an aftermarket one and I think I read that the wires and stuff are basically the same-just plug right up? And the wire for the tach is already back there, just not hooked up? There are probably a dozen Explorers there with the right instrument cluster that looks like it should work....

mjonesjr · Mar 12, 2009

Super easy. It is a plug and play install.

Please search. It has been brought up numerous times.

mjonesjr · Mar 12, 2009

irishblessing said:
if your ranger didnt come stock with a tach guage your going to have to run a wire and wire the tach yourself which might be difficult if you have to wire it into a cluster

Nope. Please don't give out false information.

The '95+ Rangers without a tach have all the wiring in place for a tach. You can plug and play a tach cluster into a Ranger that didn't have a factory tach.

oldjohnny · Mar 12, 2009

irishblessing said:
if your ranger didnt come stock with a tach guage your going to have to run a wire and wire the tach yourself which might be difficult if you have to wire it into a cluster

This doesn't sound accurate. I think all 95+ ranger do have a tach wire already. It doesn't matter if it is XLT or not or what type of engine it has.

I think I may do this over spring break, so I'll let you know how it goes beenjammin

ati190 · Mar 12, 2009

mjones is correct, minus one thing. Make sure if you swap the clusters, the engines must be alike, i.e 4cyl to 4cyl, 6cyl -6cyl. Your tach, or some guages may not function correctly otherwise. So some members have reported..

beenjammin · Mar 12, 2009

Cool, thanks for the info. Yeah, I searched it up on here but I was finding people say that the number of cylinders from the donor vehicle needed to be the same or that I would have to install a lead wire for the tach so it seemed best to get another opinion. There's quite a few explorers at the junkyard so I'll search for a good 4 cyl before I start pulling stuff apart. I figure as long as its a 2nd gen Explorer I won't have a problem with it. But how would I set the odometer to the correct number of miles? If its not raining here I'll probably do this tomorrow.

mjonesjr · Mar 12, 2009

ati190 said:
mjones is correct, minus one thing. Make sure if you swap the clusters, the engines must be alike, i.e 4cyl to 4cyl, 6cyl -6cyl. Your tach, or some guages may not function correctly otherwise. So some members have reported..

That isn't true either. All Ranger & Explorer cluster will work in any engine. There are NUMEROUS people who have swapped 4.0 Explorer white face clusters into their 4 cylinders.

ati190 · Mar 12, 2009

You can swap the odometer from your cluster to the new one. (If this is legal in your area). Shouldn't be a problem though, considering you are not tampering with the operation of the odometer. Clusters should work from 95-01 if I'm not mistaken.

mjonesjr · Mar 12, 2009

'95-'03 Rangers
'95-'01 Explorers

Those are the clusters that will interchange.

ati190 · Mar 12, 2009

mjones, yes you can swap them, but people have had trouble here.. So I've read to try and match up the number of cylinders. I swapped my cluster out, and about to do it again soon, hopefully with a newer one. I swapped cluster for cluster without tach, now I've decided I want a tach.

oldjohnny · Mar 12, 2009

I really doubt that engine size would matter since the signal is not raw, it comes from the computer IIRC. The computer sends the the signal to the tach at an 8,000 pulse signal (shows the research on the internet).

This would only make sense because why would Ford waste money making different clusters. I am not 100%, but that's what I read so far. I know that 94 and down, there is a cluster that is ONLY for 4.0, but that doesn't concern us. I'm going to have a hard time finding a 95-96 gauge w/tach for manual 2.3 truck, so I think I may just have to buy one from a V6.

Flyin Low · Mar 12, 2009

Hey Guys,

It does not matter if it is a 4 or 6 cyl vehicle an explorer cluster with tach and full gauges goes right into a base model ranger with no tach cluster and works just fine. Oldjohnny is correct, the computer determines signal to the tach hence a 6 or 4 cly swap will go either way and work fine. I have swapped base clusters and full gauge clusters from ranger to explorer and back to the ranger they interchange with no issues.

Hope this helps

beenjammin · Mar 14, 2009

Ok, I pulled one off a 1995 explorer today. Everything went together well and the tach works. But the speedometer/odometer/trip meter don't move at all. I didn't really know how to switch the odometer numbers so I didn't tinker with any of that stuff. I'm not sure what to do about this. And the temperature gauge reads way low, like on the line at the C and I know the temperature is perfectly fine. There's a few goofy things, like where "door ajar" light would be the "fuel reset" light pops on. But I'm not too worried about them, its the speedometer and temperature stuff I could use some pointers on.
Thanks for all you guys' help so far.

ati190 · Mar 14, 2009

As for the odometer/speedometer, it's an easy fix. Your speedometer should work, when the odometer doesnt. But here's how anyway. On the cluster there are 7 torx screws, remove them. The plastic facing should come apart, from the cluster. Now, for the speedometer/odometer head. start from one side of the IP, and remove the temp/fuel unit. Next on the right hand side should be your oil/battery unit, remove that. Now all that should be left is the speedometer head. Pull that entire assembly up out of the new cluster you purchased. Repeat process to remove speedometer head from your old cluster, and place it in the new one. Install the other guage units, and place the plastic facing back on, and tighten the screws. It's easy. It might take gentle prying to seperate the units from the cluster, as there are grounds holding them in a little. Put the new cluster back in your dash, and make sure your connections are secured in the new cluster. Put dash back together and you are good to go.

ati190

oldjohnny · Mar 14, 2009

Actually, try and return the cluster and tell them it didn't work. It seems you have a 2000 ranger, so you need to swap it with one from a Ranger 98+. I know for a fact that if you decide to keep that cluster, you'll need to do some minor rewiring. If you don't want to deal with this, go get a gauge cluster from a 98+ Ranger. I thought I mentioned this, but I guess I didn't, SORRY :dunno:

. It must have been another post (Man, this subject comes up very often don't ya'll think, maybe make a sticky out of this). I'm pretty sure the JY carnies will not mind if you tell them you just want another one. I do it all the time whenever I get things that don't work (IE, Overhead Console, I accidently pulled blue screen, so they let me swap it for a green one)

By the way, How much did you pay for the cluster? I just want a price range to know what to pay for mine. I know some go from 35 - 100$.

Instrument Cluster swap

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