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Have a 85 F-150 300 straight 6 4spd.
The instrument cluster has no Tachometer and I want to put one in.
Any ideas on a cheap one that I can either mount on the steering column or screw right in front of the dash?
If there is a U-Pull-it near you you can install an OEM one if they have one on the yard to pull from. All you need it the tac and the plastic wiring sheet off the back of the cluster. Pull your cluster remove the plastic sheet, the dummy tac, install the tac, install the replacement wiring sheet reinstall the cluster. It should be "plug and play" with those two parts installed
Tachometers for 7th gen trucks were an option regardless of transmission option. A particular dealer's sales history determined how vehicles were ordered given their region's sales numbers. To this day, factory reps meet with dealer principles quarterly, to review sales history within a particular region. Automatic transmission equipped vehicles were not candidates for tachometers, by the sales numbers. On the flip side of that, manual transmission equipped trucks were more inclined to have a tach, given shift points at certain RPM's for fuel economy reasons.
Have a 85 F-150 300 straight 6 4spd.
The instrument cluster has no Tachometer and I want to put one in.
Any ideas on a cheap one that I can either mount on the steering column or screw right in front of the dash?
Amazon is full of aftermarket tachs that strap onto the column with a stainless worm clamp. Not so sure about "screwing right in front of the dash" though, .
Do you need the tachometer for manual shift points or......."Just to have a Tach" ?
Basically just to have a tach. So I don't want a pricey one. If I can find a cluster that's not for a automatic I'll take it otherwise there's so many options online and I'm just not sure. The ones I have seen either screw into the column or you cut a whole in your dash.
Basically just to have a tach. So I don't want a pricey one. If I can find a cluster that's not for a automatic I'll take it otherwise there's so many options online and I'm just not sure. The ones I have seen either screw into the column or you cut a whole in your dash.
Is a 85 considered 7th gen?
The factory tach's can be separated from the cluster. And yes, 1980 to 1986 is 7th Generation F-Series
And the tach and plastic wiring from a 1981-1985 Bronco, f150, and f250 I know will fit. My tach is from a '83 f250 and the plastic is from a '81 Bronco (until I broke it changing a bulb with my fat hands).
Hope this helps
Last edited by GhostriderI; 06-03-2016 at 09:59 PM.
Basically just to have a tach. So I don't want a pricey one. If I can find a cluster that's not for a automatic I'll take it otherwise there's so many options online and I'm just not sure. The ones I have seen either screw into the column or you cut a whole in your dash.
Is a 85 considered 7th gen?
Again, factory tachometers were a factory option for manual or automatic transmissions and are separate from the cluster because of that. If you are looking for a tach, just to have one, look to Amazon for a cheapo strap on.
In my 67 Tempest, I wanted a hood tach. But the POntiac or aftermarket versions are very expensive and the instructions come with a tissue paper, (YES! tissue paper) template. So I did not want to drill either of the two hoods I have for the car. So I used a Sunpro tach and strapped it on the the wiper fascia. A lot of people say its stupid, until they sit in the car and cant take there eyes off of it. It is better than in hood tach, as the light can be changed to LED, which I did and its higher, more of a "heads up" style.
05-27-2016, 02:40 AM
Tachometer?
