WTB: factory tachometer

[Sully69]

Hi y'all
I'm looking to buy a factory tachometer. Tried eBay but the one I bought there had a bad movement. Contacted JY's 'round here but waiting for them to find a truck with a tach, no luck so far. I'd take non-functioning one & try fixing it.
Thanks - Sully

[1986F150Six]

Not what you are looking for, but in another post, you did mention an aftermarket tach, if not 8K RPMs, since your truck has a 4.9L engine.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sun-Tach-SUNTUNE-cp7625-IT-475-NOS-VINTAGE-in-box-4-6-8-cyl-gas-0-4000-rpm/362454989913?epid=8024229410&hash=item5464003c59:g:0KIAAOSwD-dbsSZi:rk:1:pf:0

[Rembrant]

I happened to see this cluster on Ebay the other day. I paid $75 for mine last year, so $100 bucks doesn't seem all that far off the mark.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/80-81-82-83-84-85-86-Ford-F150-F250-F350-Truck-Bronco-Speedometer-Cluster-89K/113282245324?hash=item1a6025e2cc:g:X9oAAOSwLXNbsWsV:rk:8:pf:0

Then there's this guy...with a 4500 RPM tach that is stuck at 1000 RPM for $175 bucks...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1980-86-FORD-F150-TRUCK-BRONCO-TACHOMETER-DASH-GAUGE-CLUSTER-80-81-82-83-84-85/401605565149?epid=1425236046&hash=item5d818e9add:g:lwIAAOSwbZBbqbNn:rk:3:pf:0

Man...they're asking big money for these things...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1980-1986-80-86-Ford-Truck-Bronco-Speedometer-Tach-Gauge-Instrument-Cluster-Auto/132736606291?hash=item1ee7b7e053:g:65MAAOSwSP9ba1ao:rk:31:pf:0

I've honestly never come across a factory tach for sale all by itself...but then again I haven't been around all that long either;).

I like the idea of having a spare cluster for spare parts anyway.

[Ford F834]

On the 4500 rpm unit...

Notice that the speedometer only goes to 75 mph. That means it is an electric medium duty one after 1986. The tach is therefore most likely an integral circuit type with the open back. Those are not spring loaded to zero. If the cluster is removed and jostled around the needle can end up wherever. Does not necessarily mean it is “stuck”. But does not guarantee it’s good either. I would read the return policy carefully.

Also... look at all the pictures. The printed circuit is GREEN and the tach has only 3 terminals instead of 4. This may or may not be compatible with our trucks. I don’t have any experience with it, but I’m not going to pay almost $200 after shipping to find out!



I do know that the attraction to the low rpm tachs is to run them with a straight six. In order to get it to read right on 6 cylinders you have to isolate the “8” terminal. I’m thinking that the 3 terminal models may not useable with a 6 cylinder. If I come across one in a junkyard I will buy it to play with but only if I can get it cheaply.

[Rembrant]

Ahhh...very interesting. I didn't look at it any closer than the title saying it was for an 80-86 F150.

There is a tag visible in the last picture indicating that the tach is for a diesel, and that it needs to be set per the # of teeth on the flywheel, with a note to call Ford Heavy Truck hotline for assistance.

So this is out of one of those F700 trucks?

[Sully69]

Wow, what a super response. I heard back from a man in Richmond & he accepted my offer on a whole cluster(ebay), I only hope this one works. It doesn't have to come as far this time so fingers crossed. I found a factory tach on eBay as well, $64.95 but the whole cluster only cost me $80.
All y'all must have some kind of hotline to eBay & cl since the responses were so fast!!
Thanks

Sully

BTW I put a similar WTB message on FTE over a week ago and still haven't gotten any response. Thanks for the site & forum Gary!
Sully

[Sully69]

1986f150six I was thinking of an aftermarket tach but the only ones I saw on eBay had white face, I'm a basic black kinda man. I never thought to look in Canada, though. I would have thought French writing from Montreal. That seller had a few, couple of 4k & one 3k. I my buy one of those just in case.
Thanks
Sully

[Sully69]

Rembrandt  I saw all those clusters but chose a different on 'cause the seller was in Richmond, not so far to ship it.
The one with the green circuit out back, I almost pulled the trigger until I to saw the sticker & electric Speedo, that changed my mind.
Thanks
Sully

[Rembrant]

Swapping in a factory tach was one of the first things I did to my truck. I couldn't stand there being no tach!!

[Sully69]

Rembrandt
I am swapping but only 'cause the one that came in it quit working. I called every JY I could find in the Richmond area but nobody had '80-'86 trucks. Found one that had 4 trucks of that vintage but none had tach's in them. Finally bought one on eBay that came from California but it was DOA. Finally talked the seller out of a partial refund and started my search again. I've contacted this seller in hopes I can go pick it up, Richmond is only slightly over an hour drive.
Sully

[Rembrant]

Ahh, OK, understood. Well, worst case scenario you could always have an old tach rebuilt (and upgraded with new internals), but it's not cheap. This guy below does them:

https://www.rccinnovations.com/index.php?show=menu-trucks-all

I'm planning on sending him my Ammeter Gauge to convert it to a Volt Gauge at some point over the winter.

[Gary Lewis]

Welcome, Sully!  We aren’t as big as FTE, but we make up for that by the friendliness and willingness to help each other. 😉

[Sully69]

Gary
I thought by putting the WTB on the other site I might find a tach easier, maybe there would be more floating 'round over there. Boy, was I wrong!! I put the ad over here and got an amazing response, fantastic. I'm sold  on this place even more now.
Thanks again
Sully

[Sully69]

Rembrandt
I'm hoping that I can come across some non-working ones as well. I'd like to tear some down, build them back into functioning ones. Then, I'll start fixing them for (I hope) less than what's being charged by others. I have two types now, I'll start making a list of components etc and then get to work.
Sully

[Ford F834]

Sully,

If you are looking at low rpm tachometers, it is important to know what you are buying....

If it is a 4500 rpm tach with red and yellow warning zones (may be faded), then it is a tach for a 6.9L diesel pickup and reads the teeth on the injection pump gear. It’s only good for the 6.9/7.3 diesel engine:



The 4,000 rpm tachs are probably the rarest. They are 80/81 year only and were for V8 gas engines in F600 and up medium duty trucks. They read correctly on a straight six if the “8” terminal is isolated.

After 81 the gas medium heavy trucks got a 4500 rpm tach. They are clearly different than the diesel 4500 tachs in that they lack the yellow and red zones on the face. The 4 terminal models  work with a straight six if the “8” lug is isolated. That is what is a in my truck now:



Last there are several 3500 rpm tachs. There are several types, but all are for diesel medium heavy truck applications and read the flywheel teeth. They are specific to the engine and transmission application and not useable for us pickup owners:

[1986F150Six]

Good stuff, Jonathan.

[Sully69]

Jonathan
That is very good info and it has me curious. I would assume (I know "assume" is bad) that the ones that work off the teeth have some type of sensor that does the counting. Is the receiver part of that built into the tach, thereby making them non convertible to gasoline mechanisms? I didn't ever work much on Ford diesel trucks so have no experience with those tach's. The movements in the tach's should be similar if not the same, correct?? Now I'm going to have to get one of them and find out!
Sully

[Ford F834]

There was a guy on another forum who claimed he knew how to convert one... but it requires a higher level of understanding of electronics than I have....

The one thing I discovered when I accidentally connected a diesel tach to my running 300 six (I was testing clusters) is that it caused the gas engine to die immediately as if turned off by the key. Conversely, I have read that gas tachs will read on a diesel, just not accurately. I intend to hook up a gas tach to my diesel once I have it running again just to see what it does.

The diesel tach receives its signal from a magnetic pick up that threads into the housing of the injection pump gear. Replacement senders are a bit on the pricey side, and people have made their own out of ABS wheel sensors. I don’t recommend this, as the gear clearance must be exact for the tach to read right. I mention it to help explain how it works. The injection pump gear has 106 teeth, so the sensor should generate 53 pulses per crankshaft revolution. Here is how a diesel unit it wired:

[firehawk618]

I have a used 4500 rpm diesel tach that I didn't know wouldn't work with my gas truck.

I'm pulling it out today and installing the 6000 rpm one I just found at the junk yard today.  :)

[broboyle]

Firehawk618, are you selling the 4500 diesel tach? If so, I am interested in more details and price!