1986 Ranger 2.9 cluster swap

[Davoe Schmavo]

Hello all, so I recently went to the local junk yard and they have a 1988 Ranger and it has an updated cluster in it. I have a 1986 Ranger and I was wondering if I could swap them out.

This is the current cluster with the wood

And the newer one is the one with the silver trim

 

[franklin2]

Worst case is you would have to take the gauges and circuit board off the one, and swap them to the other front piece. I would poke out the colored lenses, I do it on all my older Fords. Those little plastic lenses get old and foggy and will not pass very much light.

With the lenses out the dash it is very bright, but it does have a yellow tint to it from the bare bulbs. I don't mind it, but some people do not like it and instead poke the lenses out, but go buy colored light bulbs.

 

[SenorNoob]

So you wanna swap to the cluster with tach?

I noticed the original has an AMP gauge. There are some minor wiring differences (under hood?) between an amp gauge and the not charging indicator light of the later style.

@franklin2 What colored lenses are you talking about? Only thing I've ever seen with color on the 1st gen is the CEL area. I've always head the green on everything else comes from some kind of coating on the gauge faces..

 

[franklin2]

@franklin2 What colored lenses are you talking about? Only thing I've ever seen with color on the 1st gen is the CEL area. I've always head the green on everything else comes from some kind of coating on the gauge faces..

With the cluster out, if you twist out the black bulb holders and pull the bulb out, you can then take a pencil, eraser side first, and put it down in the hole where the bulb was and poke out the green lenses. This is where the green tint comes from. As the plastic gets old, it gets cloudy and doesn't pass much light. Thus why everyone complains about their older gen dash clusters being dim.

 

[franklin2]

So you wanna swap to the cluster with tach?

I noticed the original has an AMP gauge. There are some minor wiring differences (under hood?) between an amp gauge and the not charging indicator light of the later style.

I didn't catch the amp gauge thing. You are correct, if he swaps clusters it may quit charging.

A lot of little things that can stop the show. I wanted to swap in a 1986 cluster I have into my 1984 Bronco. The 86 has a tach. Looking at the diagrams though, there are major differences, one being the 86 has two wiring plugs to the cluster, the 84 only has one. And the 84 must not have had a tach option on any model, there is no tach wire going in. So I could make it work but it would be a bunch of wiring that I did not want to do.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Moved to the correct section…

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

No charging issues with mine

1983-1986 Gauge Cluster With Tach Swap - The Ranger Station