I did it!!! So, I'm sitting here on Yotatech earlier today... wishing an SR5 cluster was made available to me. Then, I get a "feeling". "I haven't been to the junkyard in a couple months."

So, I hop in my base-model 84 (which has an AC that works from a Wal mart retrofit kit by the way!!!)

I'm strolling through the yard... find 2 1st gen 4x4's which is all ready rare enough.

Then I spot an 85 2WD with fuel injection. That's when I realize... only SR5 came with EFI (as far as I know)!

Sure enough... there's the damn cluster RIGHT there!

The Conversion:

Very easy! I thought, for sure, I'd have to splice atleast one wire. NOPE!! THe truck needed an oil change badly, so I went and bought the SR5 oil sending unit. I read that it is a must have, otherwise you'll kill the oil gauge.

Spun it on there, finished the oil change, and plugged in the new cluster.

The Results:

The temp. gauge does not work... and this was too be expected. THAT sending unit needs to be replaced. The temp gauge in the other cluster did not work right either.

EVERYTHING ELSE... does work!!! The oil pressure reads right where it should. I generate a substantial amount of volts (the needle is way up there). The fuel gauge actually reads pretty damn accurate... I was suprised. I read somewhere that adjustments were required on other trucks. So far, mine reads efficiently, however, I have not filled the tank up beyond the quarter mark yet.

The speedo... reads to 110. THe base-model one only read to 85. Regardless of the difference, the gauge continues to display the correct speed (although I did not expect a problem anyway).

The Question for YOU:

Why is my tach working also?

That's right, it DOES work. But I never ran a seperate wire to the coil. I was almost POSITIVE that I would have to, but it does in fact show my true revs. Is it built into the ECU or something? I am just curious.



In closing,

I am VERY happy with this swap. I completed it in 2 hours (mostly because of farting around with the oil change. The cluster, in case you were wondering, ran me $35 bucks... the same price as a new oil sending unit.

 

Sweet mod, you scored man.

 

Yeah I did! In fact that's gotta be one big stroke of luck! I asked for a cluster... and BOOM there it was!

I asked for flawless results... and BOOM there it was! (Minus the temp... I have a new sender ready to be installed).

 

I don't recall why, but some trucks were equipped with the same harness as the Sr5 models. That's why your tach worked. Some units need an extra wire, and some don't...

 

I GUESS huh? Anyway, its pretty sick.

I got my TEMP gauge to work also. The sending unit wire has a short. a good shaking did the truck