1995 F150 XLT 5.0 Auto, I found a cluster with a tachometer at the salvage yard and want to put it in my truck that doesn't have a tach. I was going to just change out the clusters one for the other. Is this a plug and play or will it even work? Looks like it will but not sure, anybody done this? Thanks, herbie

 

It will work, I did it to my 96 F150. But from all the threads I have read, they all state that you just have to make sure it is from the same year.
Just remember to use your own speedo gauge.

 

92 and 93 fit each other - 94 and 95 fit each other, 96 and 97 (250, 350) fit each other. Plug and play.

 

Thanks guys for the replies, I appreciate it!

I just finished the install, had a few bugs to work out but all is fine now. The tachometer works great, I love it.
The salvage yard donor vehicle was a 1993, maybe it was a late year production I don't know but seems to be working good. Only issues I see is the temp and battery volts seems to be running a little low. I'll see how it does over time. Thanks again. herbie

 

Looks like I got a problem and I don't know if its related to the instrument cluster change or not. On my new cluster it looked like the battery voltage was low, about 11 volts or so. So I thought I would take a reading at the battery with it running just to see how many volts I would get and sure enough it read 11.7 volts.

Things I have done,
1) Put a brush kit in alternator
2) bought salvage yard alternator that had a rebuilt tag on it, so I put that voltage regulator on old alternator
3) Tried complete salvage yard alternator on it
4) Ran a wire from battery ground to alternator body

Nothing made any change, the battery is only 2 years old and tests good.

I get nothing no matter what I do

My question is, Is it possible the new cluster is causing this? I believe it was charging before because I never had a problem until now,but I didn't check the alternator output until now.

Any ideas,Please, herbie

Also I plan on taking the alternator in to get it tested but I just wanted to rule out the cluster being the problem

 

What year is the cluster?

 

1993

 

Yes the donor cluster is a 1993, weird thing is everything seems to be working fine, all the gauges are working like they should. If my alternator tests good I will switch clusters and see what happens.

 

The printed wiring circuit on the back of a 93 cluster will be the wrong circuit for a 95.
That could very possibly be your problem.
I think you can repin the plug to compensate, but you also have the airbag added in 94 so all said and done it would be simpler to use the right cluster.
I would be concerned about possibly messing up something in the wiring of the truck by running it as is.
I don't know if that will happen, but I wouldn't take the chance.

 

Well, alternator tested good so I went ahead and changed the cluster back to my original one. All is good again,alternator is charging and gauges all work.
Chris was right a 1993 cluster doesn't work in a 1995 application. Thanks, Chris for the info!!
If anyone needs an instrument cluster with a tach for a 92-93 model, I've got a pretty nice one. When I first plugged it in the odometer red 44000 and some change although I was going to put my old one in if all went well.
Well on to the next adventure, herbie