Hi, I'm new to the forums and need some help with my current project. I have a 1990 f150 xlt lariat 4x4 5.0 automatic and it doesn't have a factory tach. So when I read on here that the clusters with and without the tach are a direct swap in. I found a cluster to swap in, I cleaned it up and all and its ready to go in but I need to change the mileage on it. But I can't take it apart because the needles won't come off and the three screws on the tach face are stripped. The only way I can change the mileage is by manually turning it with my finger. The problem is that the cluster with the tach is at about 89, 90 thousand miles my current cluster is at about 39 thousand and my fingers are sore from turning it manually for a couple of hours and only changing the mileage by about a thousand. My question is there a way that's faster? I tried with a drill it maxed out the speedo and turned twice as slow as with my finger.

 

No dude, you probably broke it turning it with your fingers. Just live with the numbers, it's not like you actually had low mileage. It just only reads to 99,999.9.

 

No, I didn't break it, it still works fine and yeah its not exactly low miles (239,xxx in counting) I mean I know it rolls over its obviously done it twice. I was just wondering if there was another way cause I need to know the mileage for oil changes and all. If I tried to keep track of it with the wrong mileage the paper it was all written on would get lost by me or my dad in between oil changes. Any suggestions?

 

There's nothing to keep track of. It doesn't display the correct mileage anyways. You just need to know how many miles to the next oil change, and do the math once for the new cluster. And yes, turning it with your fingers did damage it to an extent. Any speedometer guy will be able to tell you did it.

 

If I remember correctly you should be able to remove the clear cover off the cluster, then grab the outside edges of the face of the speedo. If you wiggle it a little while pulling the entire speedo will slide out of the cluster, its only on dowel pins. Your non tach speedo will slide in where the speedo is on your tach cluster Those little screws only hold the face onto the speedo, they don't actually hold the speedo in to the cluster.

 

Thanks for the advice kingsandman I didn't know if it did that or not ill have to give that a try cause I actually have another cluster with a tach so ill just make the best out of three.

 

I've done just that a few times. The "speedo" is actually the same size in both clusters. Only thing that changes is that it's centered in the cluster with the other gauges (fuel, oil pressure, temp and gas) set up 2 per side. The tach cluster moves the speedo to one side with the tach on the other, then the gauges are stacked two per side. You'll have to use the complete tach cluster with your old speedo swapped into that. I also seem to remember that the two plug ins on the back are oriented a little different but do in fact plug in.


P.S., You can spin the back of that speedo all day long without hurting it as long as you're talking about the little brass socket on the back that makes the speedo needle move. If you're talking about trying to spin the odometer by forcing it then yes you'll damage it. You'd be there a looooonnnggg time trying to spin that thing to the correct the mileage.

 

Yeah I figured the speedo and other small gauges were the same and they just moved stuff around. But yeah I'm gong to try that tomorrow and hopefully have a new cluster in there by tomorrow afternoon and yeah id forget about what I was doing by the time I got it to the correct mileage and thanks again.

 

Alright so I finished swapping in the new cluster and all the gauges work the e brake, high beam, seatbelt, turn signals, and all the indicator lights work even the light behind the wiper/ headlight switch works, I haven't tested the 4x4 light yet. But I don't have any gauge lights, they aren't lit up at all. The bulbs are fine cause they all came from my old cluster. I even plugged in my old cluster with the other clusters bulbs that I took out and it lights up. Everything is hooked up right the fuses are good I'm lost at what to do.

 

Just to be sure, is the dimmer switch cranked all the way down? Are your heater control lights working?