1998 Ranger 2.5 L RWD Cluster Swap with Explorer

[sahasranshu]

Hi All,
Firstly, I would like to thank TRS and the author for this detailed article, Ford Ranger Odometer Gauge Swap - The Ranger Station .

It seems the author is no longer active in TRS and hence I am reaching out to you all for help

Luckily, I was able to find an instrument cluster from a Ford Explorer (Year 1998 or 2002, can't recall) which is exactly the same as the article, the only problem is the instrument cluster in my 1998 Ford Ranger XLT 2.5 L RWD does NOT have Vehicle Theft Indicator/Sensor. However, the one that I found from the local yard appears to be same as the article has a vehicle theft indicator.

To summarize my new cluster has all gauges as the old one with two additions, one is the Tachometer and the other is Theft Indicator.

I am wondering if I could make this swap ? My reason for swap is to have an RPM gauge in my Ranger.

Any suggestions are much appreciated, thank you for your time.

 

[sahasranshu]

Commenting for anyone who may visit this thread in future. I was able to do the swap, and it worked fine.

 

[Jtrussell1890]

Commenting for anyone who may visit this thread in future. I was able to do the swap, and it worked fine.

I just did this exact swap and now no gauges are working. I put in a cluster from a 97 explorer 4x4 with a tach into my 96 2wd and now none of the gauges work. I need help.

 

[sahasranshu]

I just did this exact swap and now no gauges are working. I put in a cluster from a 97 explorer 4x4 with a tach into my 96 2wd and now none of the gauges work. I need help.

I am sorry I can't comment on why it did not work for you, when I made the swap, all gauges worked fine along with the tachometer. Only problem is my speedometer gets to rise when I drive 20 MPH and higher. I guess to handle this I need to reprogram using Forscan.

For your scenario I would suggest one thing though - There is a removable chip in the backside of the cluster. If your vehicle is RWD it would have 5 pins, if you swapped one from 4x4 I would say it would have 6-7 pins, that could be the issue.

 

[Jtrussell1890]

I am sorry I can't comment on why it did not work for you, when I made the swap, all gauges worked fine along with the tachometer. Only problem is my speedometer gets to rise when I drive 20 MPH and higher. I guess to handle this I need to reprogram using Forscan.

For your scenario I would suggest one thing though - There is a removable chip in the backside of the cluster. If your vehicle is RWD it would have 5 pins, if you swapped one from 4x4 I would say it would have 6-7 pins, that could be the issue.

No worries, after some digging, I found 2 bad fuses in the fuse box by the door. I wasn't using my proper brain. Worked night shift last night and haven't slept so I was skipping the easy stuff lol.

 

[sahasranshu]

No worries, after some digging, I found 2 bad fuses in the fuse box by the door. I wasn't using my proper brain. Worked night shift last night and haven't slept so I was skipping the easy stuff lol.

Good Luck and drive safe !