Cluster switch out on 94 a Ranger..

[Derek The Great]

Hey fellas,
What needs to happen in order to get the factory tach cluster to work, in place of my crappy speedometer only cluster? I've tried the direct swap, the wiring harnesses snap rite in but nothing works right. Between the two clusters, What did ford do differently, and is it something i can easily duplicate? I am calling out to the electrical ranger gods! Oh btw, i want to maintain the factory look, so an aftermarket tach is outa the question..
Thanks
Derek

'94 Ranger 2wd, 2.3 stick

 

[Derek The Great]

Cmon now, someone has to have pulled this off.. What is different between the two instrument clusters??? What do I need to change in my truck to get the tach type cluster to work? Somebody help!

 

[Derek The Great]

hey thanks for the reply mtnrgr.
The closest junkyard match ive found to date came from a 93 4 banger ranger. I did try swaping the chips once i noticed you could pull em out but that did nothing either, same stuff prevailed ie: turnsignal causes oil pressure to rise tach does not function.. I forgot if there is enough length but, could it be that the wiring harness that connected to the left side now needs to connect to the right???

 

[Derek The Great]

Yes the clusters look exactly the same, except the letter/number coloration is slightly different. For example, on my cluster the text color that defines km/h and all the gages is like a tealish blue. But on the clusters ive tried they have always been gold. But back to the wiring part of the swap, i plugged everything into the tach cluster as it was removed from my non tach cluster. Now, if Ford didnt wire my truck for the tach i could see everyother gage working just fine, except for the tach. This is what makes me wonder if ford just didnt give the tach people a different harness all together, and if thats the case maybe all i need to do is:
a) splice wires
b) R&R the wiring harness with the one i need.

I never paid attention to any of the donor cars' harnesses.. Well im hittin the junkyard tomorrow in search of a lincoln mark VII to save some JBL 5x7's from impending death, so I'll keep my eyes out for a 94 4 banger ranger stickshift with a tach..

 

[Derek The Great]

Hmmm.. Well ill b damned, its worth another shot. Id look at exploaders but weren't they all 6 bangers or better? The 2.3 has a 5.5k redline whereas the 6 pots have a 5k, so i think im limited to rangers.. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Derek The Great]

Well taylor auto salvage had jack squat, one Mark VII with the speakers already liberated (Dammit!) and more 92 or older rangers with the crappy cluster like I have.. Now i need to give that place a few more weeks so their inventory will update, as im not sure of another good place to pick and pull..

 

[Derek The Great]

the great thing is the speedos switch out.. so my only concern is the redline of the clusters, any of them 5.5ers?

 

[Bryan22]

they all read up to 6k anyways right? your foot is what controls when the RPM stop climbing not the tach so take mtnrgrs tach and say thank you!

 

[Derek The Great]

they all read up to 6k anyways right? your foot is what controls when the RPM stop climbing not the tach so take mtnrgrs tach and say thank you!

yeah yeah, i know.. The problem is, is im anal. Plus the calibration could be different, because they all may read to 6k but the intervals could be divided up differently and if thats the case now the reading is wayyy off..

 

[Derek The Great]

seriously though, thanks for offering it to me. It's just one of those things that would bug the hell outa me more and more as i drove along..