95 f150

ok so i heard you can wire up an aftermarket tach to your wire harness even if you dont have a stock tach. so i took everything apart and im not totally sure what to do. in the pic you see a grey plug, which connects to the side with the oil pressure and temp, then the small black plug which conects in the middle of the cluster and then the brown plug which conects to the side with gas and volts.

the wire color for tach is usually green and there is only one solid green wire on all 3 of those plugs. the green wire is on the grey plug. so with that id assume that would be the wire id attach my tach to...only thing is, on my dads cluster (with a stock tach) his tach is on the right side, which would be the brown plug. so with that i would assume that the correct wire i need would be on the brown plug, because it to is attached to the right side of the cluster

so my question is if i should go ahead and wire my tach to the only solid green wire there (which is on the grey plug) or do i have to connect it to another color on the brown plug?

 

Easier way
Black- ground under dash
Red- key source, possibly to positive on coil
Green- run wire from negative on coil

No need to take cluster out.

 

its apart already now lol. not on the road yet so im in no hurry to put it back either. id rather run everything through the dash anyways.

 

Check a haynes manual they have wiring diagrams, or go to autozone website and sign in to their repair section, lots of info and I think I got a wiring diagram there too.

 

any one else have any experience with this? i couldnt manage to find anything

 

When I did mine I just ran it off the coil...

 

yeah i already know of that way. my question is how to run it off the harness

 

Should be a green and yellow wire behind the cluster. I would get a factory tach cluster and put it in if I didnt have an aftermarket one. I still Might do it if I find a cheap good condition one.

 

the green and yellow wire is attached to the brown plug, woul that be the one?

 

Here is what I ended up doing.

The tach comes with 4 wires. The one I purchased used black for ground, red for a KEYED power source, white for a lighting power source and green for the tach signal.

First thing I did was mount the Tach on the dash. My truck is 2wd so the area on the dash above where that switch would be is a perfect spot with room to drill and not hurt anything.

Next I found a power source for my lighting that operates with my dimmer to allow the light in the tach to do the same. I decided to use the power line for the lights on the heater control panel. Here is the pic. This was for the tach's white wire.



I chose to use splice connectors for most of this installation. Here is the white wire tied into the hot side of the heater control lights.



Next I found a source for my Keyed Power supply (only has 12v when the key is in the ON position.) This connector is under the center of the dash. The wire that has keyed power only is the red wire w/ yellow stripe



Here is it with the Red wire from the tach spliced in.



Next I used this metal panel above the clutch pedal for the ground source.




Since I was unable to find a wire under the dash that had a tach signal, I went right to the source with the Tan and yellow stripe wire right at the coil. To do so I had to go through the firewall with my tach's green wire. I sealed the hole in the firewall with silicone to prevent the wire from rubbing its insulation off. Don't forget to use wire ties or tape and keep that and all wires used out of the way of each pedal's full range of motion.



Splice connection with coils tan / yellow stripe wire.



Tach installed and working.



Not sure how many other years this procedure will work with but this should work to help a few others perhaps.

Thanks to those who gave me suggestions.

pen