Gauge Cluster Illumination

[503sinner]

Hey all so I am finally doing some repairs on my ranger and i've run into a little issue and i've been looking all over for the right answer with no anvil. The gauge cluster illumination in my ranger is going out and on the left side its already mostly dim making it hard to see the speedometer at night. I'm guessing it's just a fuse but the question really is which one would it be? Sadly I dont have access to a chilton book to check this, thank you all in advance and have a pleasant day.

 

[HAPPY+RANGER+GUY]

You've probably lost a number of bulbs. They can go pretty quickly when they start burning out. If you tweak the intensity down a little bit the lighting will last you much longer (once you have new bulbs in there).

Some folks have switched over to LED, you may wish to consider this option.
http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138804

 

[503sinner]

You've probably lost a number of bulbs. They can go pretty quickly when they start burning out. If you tweak the intensity down a little bit the lighting will last you much longer (once you have new bulbs in there).

Some folks have switched over to LED, you may wish to consider this option.
http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138804

Guess I'll have to look further into how to pull that apart and replace those bulbs then. Was hoping was just a fuse that may be blown, but at this point ill probably just switch all the interior lighting over to LED.

 

[HAPPY+RANGER+GUY]

Not too tough

Here are a couple of videos. The first one will give you good preview of taking the cluster out. His is a 1995 but same generation as your 1997 and should be pretty much identical for removal of the cluster.

Removing cluster:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIi-LpNH2r8

Another LED example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x78DiHUhB7o


Hope these help. Most important part of this task is being patient and not breaking things in the process of ripping things out.