AmericanSavage Posted June 28, 2023 Author Share Posted June 28, 2023 That cluster is for a circa 1992-1999 F-series medium duty truck. F-600/FT-900 etc... The Cluster plastic surround piece should work for our trucks as well as the lens piece for non-trip odometer. The speedometer is electronic, and will not work with our trucks. (or at least without serious modification) The gauges (Oil Temp Fuel Charge) are the same as ours. The tach might be for a gas truck, as the F-600-up has different values to the tach. (I cannot tell from the picture which though). During this era, the fuel used would be printed on the tach itself below the RPM mark. Thank you. I wondered, The person in question has this incorrectly listed then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanSavage Posted June 28, 2023 Author Share Posted June 28, 2023 Here is another one--looks better to me...thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-F150-Explorer Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 Here is another one--looks better to me...thoughts? That one looks like the right one for our trucks. And that one is a gas tach for sure. Is that for a 1980 with green printed circuit, or a 1981-1986 with red printed circuit? They are not plug and play compatible with each other, although they can be made to work by re-pinning two wires in the cluster connector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanSavage Posted June 29, 2023 Author Share Posted June 29, 2023 That one looks like the right one for our trucks. And that one is a gas tach for sure. Is that for a 1980 with green printed circuit, or a 1981-1986 with red printed circuit? They are not plug and play compatible with each other, although they can be made to work by re-pinning two wires in the cluster connector. Says this: FROM A 1984 f150 I thought they were all plug and play through 86? Is there a sticky here on the repining? I looked and must be blind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 That one looks like the right one for our trucks. And that one is a gas tach for sure. Is that for a 1980 with green printed circuit, or a 1981-1986 with red printed circuit? They are not plug and play compatible with each other, although they can be made to work by re-pinning two wires in the cluster connector. Says this: FROM A 1984 f150 I thought they were all plug and play through 86? Is there a sticky here on the repining? I looked and must be blind. It is well hidden. Try our page at Documentation/Electrical/Gauges and then go to the Printed Circuit Pinouts tab. There you'll find a link to HOWTO: 81-86 gauge cluster in 80 model (gauge models ONLY!). That will take you back to FTE where member Paul/Rogue_Wulff wrote a good article on how to make the change. I didn't see the need to port that over here so just provided a link. (That reminds me that I need to contact Paul and let him know about the show. He's not on here very often, but was active back in the day and sometimes brings his 80 with a Cummings to the show.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 It is well hidden. Try our page at Documentation/Electrical/Gauges and then go to the Printed Circuit Pinouts tab. There you'll find a link to HOWTO: 81-86 gauge cluster in 80 model (gauge models ONLY!). That will take you back to FTE where member Paul/Rogue_Wulff wrote a good article on how to make the change. I didn't see the need to port that over here so just provided a link. (That reminds me that I need to contact Paul and let him know about the show. He's not on here very often, but was active back in the day and sometimes brings his 80 with a Cummings to the show.) Cummins..... (or Fummins, as it's in a Ford) It would be great to hear from Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 Cummins..... (or Fummins, as it's in a Ford) It would be great to hear from Paul. Right. Cummins or Fummins. I texted him the flyer and told him I'd just referred someone to his write-up. Hope he can make it. That guy is a wealth of knowledge. First time I met him he told me why my tach was reading low - I had a 6 cylinder DS-II harness with no ground. A few years later Eli was here for the show and told us he couldn't run vacuum advance because every time he hooked vacuum up the engine died. Immediately Paul said "The insulation on the pickup module in the dizzy is bad and a wire is shorting to ground when the plate moves." Sure enough it was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanSavage Posted June 30, 2023 Author Share Posted June 30, 2023 Right. Cummins or Fummins. I texted him the flyer and told him I'd just referred someone to his write-up. Hope he can make it. That guy is a wealth of knowledge. First time I met him he told me why my tach was reading low - I had a 6 cylinder DS-II harness with no ground. A few years later Eli was here for the show and told us he couldn't run vacuum advance because every time he hooked vacuum up the engine died. Immediately Paul said "The insulation on the pickup module in the dizzy is bad and a wire is shorting to ground when the plate moves." Sure enough it was! Thank you Gary. I MAY make an offer on that last unit—it is going for around 240 not counting shipping…not sure if that is high or low, but how often does one find a tach that fits the dash for our trucks? Checking out the link…..thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanSavage Posted June 30, 2023 Author Share Posted June 30, 2023 Thanks to Gary and my review of the site he sent me too, I should have the cluster backing like the one in the pic, with the raised area for the tach. That would leave me needing a tach AND a new printed circuit. That is IF I have the same white cluster housing. I am not sure since I have not looked, but from what I gather from the pages, I should. I have all normal gauges, so….I know LMC has this circuit…(but I do loathe their website). I see that I should not have to arrange pins in my situation just the tach and new printed circuit (assuming I have the correct white dash cluster). I figure since I will have the seat out, and the dash, tackling this falls into the category of…”since I am here….” However, I am not sure I am going to pull the trigger on the cluster I posted above. Still thinking in it. I will also have to paint the parts of the dash that need painting. I ran a test on some old kick panels and the P side with laquer thinner—most prescribe a much stronger Aircraft thinner. I went with the less strong lacquer and wiped with a dry cloth, and then soap and water. It worked, but it also turned the dash part pink after it took off the black, and took the red off too. The kick panels must be dyed, they came out in original red after getting the black paint off. Either way, this is going to be tedious. I still have no word on the grille replace, and so am looking into fabbing something up…of course it not be near as good looking. I know my skills and I also have no 3D printer. I have the SEM paint and prep ordered and the Polyvance filler (not the hot iron tho)--(finally!) and now have to save for the upholstery of the seat. I am about 2 weeks behind in this already. But in this economy..well, I will leave it at that….. Once I have all the parts assembled, I will start tearing into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanSavage Posted June 30, 2023 Author Share Posted June 30, 2023 Holy Smokes! Found this for 80. Part Number seems to match up. I made offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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