'97 Cluster R&R, no tach, now have I one

[mike2004tct]

I recently posted a thread about my DRL indicator being out. I figured it might be just the bulb, and having to remove the cluster to replace it, I figured "Hey Mike, you always wanted a Tach, why not buy a salvage yard unit and try it?"
So I did. I picked up a '95 4 LT door unit (Mine is a '97 2 door LS)

I searched everywhere, including the GM parts catalog to find out what the OEM p/n was. Turns out any 95-97 S10/S15 p/u or Blazer/Jimmy dash would work. Some knuclehead on ebay told me a '98 unit would fit, but they're more rounded than the squareish units of 95-97. (Turns out only 98-2000 are interchangeable).

It took me all of 45 minutes to remove and replace the boneyard unit ($60.00), and low and behold; it WORKS. YIPEEEEE.

Now, does anybody know how to turn back the digits on the odometer. The unit I got has 158K on it, while my truck only has 46k.

[redwheeler]

i wanted to do the same thing but i dont want to mess with the odometer can you swich them or are they not close

[mike2004tct]

Originally Posted by redwheeler

i wanted to do the same thing but i dont want to mess with the odometer can you swich them or are they not close

They are interchangeable. Each cluster unit has its own odometer. I'm still working on dis-assembling my old unit to figure out how to adjust the miles. When I figure it out, I'll make that info available.

[s10blazerman4x4]

Lol this has the makings of one of them shady car dealers turning back the clocks.In this case i wouldnt see no harm because your trying to get your mileage write. Is the tach dead on too?

[mike2004tct]

Originally Posted by s10blazerman4x4

Lol this has the makings of one of them shady car dealers turning back the clocks.In this case i wouldnt see no harm because your trying to get your mileage write. Is the tach dead on too?

I will keep this truck for quite some time, so no shady stuff intended.
(After 10 years in my home State, you don't have to record milage when you sell the vehicle anyway) I'm going to try changing out the odometer wheels between the two units.
Plus that, I only have 46k miles on a 9 year old truck. My wife freaked when she saw 158,000 miles on the replacement unit.
As far as acuracy goes, the speedo seems about right. I don't know about the tach because I never had one in this truck before. It reads a little under 2000rpm @ 60mph, and idles at 800 rpm. So I feel comfortable with those readings.

[dmbrisket 51]

your obdII smarter then you think computer will not like you changeing the mileage, in fact, your a lucky one, you got a cluster out of a truck with the same prom number you have, otherwise it wouldnt work at all (so were told, not a body man, never had a reason to do it)

[mike2004tct]

Originally Posted by dmbrisket 51

your obdII smarter then you think computer will not like you changeing the mileage, in fact, your a lucky one, you got a cluster out of a truck with the same prom number you have, otherwise it wouldnt work at all (so were told, not a body man, never had a reason to do it)

Luckily for me, 95-97s have mechanical wheel odometers, not digital like 98s and newer.

Edit;
I ended up swapping the head units between the 2 clusters today, so I now have my original miles showing.
Took me about 1.5 hours to dis-assemble both units and get everything back together. IHad to remove the plastic/glass cover, then pry out the gauge units, remove a circuit board from the back, then exchange the heads. No wheel turning required.
Got the tach needle off by about 100rpm, and the volt meter is off by about 1.5volts, but I save readjusments for another day.

[s10blazerman4x4]

Sounds good. Nice work.Now can we get a picture.

[mike2004tct]

Here's some cell phone pictures I took.
Not very clear, but you get the idea.

Here's the original unit out of the dash and sitting on top of the dash.
I had already swapped the odometer unit;



Here's the replacement unit installed and running,
The green light is the DRL indicator;

[Eslhockey92g]

Originally Posted by mike2004tct

Here's some cell phone pictures I took.
Not very clear, but you get the idea.

Here's the original unit out of the dash and sitting on top of the dash.
I had already swapped the odometer unit;



Here's the replacement unit installed and running,
The green light is the DRL indicator;

I attempted the same thing in my 97, I found a cluster w/ a tach on ebay. After doing some homework i found that the pin for the tach is on the harness to my cluster now w/o a tach. So i bought it, put it in and everything work BUT the tach was way of. When i would drive under normal light acceleration when my tranny whould shift the tach registered at about 5500 Rpm. I knew it was closer to 3500 Rpm. I took it out and found out it was ripped out of a 4 cyl truck. My car having a 6cly, and the new cluster was looking for a 4cyl pulse from the ign pack, but it was reciving a 6cly so it was reading to many pulses wicth caused it to be off of caluibration. If anyone knows if im able to fix this that would be great i really wanna have an OEM look w/ a tach. I was just gonna buy another one off ebay that did come out of a 6cyl in the summer

[s10blazerman4x4]

This is what my friend has been looking to do in his sonoma but he has a 97 with digital miles.So till he finds way to tinker with it,no tach for him

[mike2004tct]

Originally Posted by Eslhockey92g

I attempted the same thing in my 97, I found a cluster w/ a tach on ebay. After doing some homework i found that the pin for the tach is on the harness to my cluster now w/o a tach. So i bought it, put it in and everything work BUT the tach was way of. When i would drive under normal light acceleration when my tranny whould shift the tach registered at about 5500 Rpm. I knew it was closer to 3500 Rpm. I took it out and found out it was ripped out of a 4 cyl truck. My car having a 6cly, and the new cluster was looking for a 4cyl pulse from the ign pack, but it was reciving a 6cly so it was reading to many pulses wicth caused it to be off of caluibration. If anyone knows if im able to fix this that would be great i really wanna have an OEM look w/ a tach. I was just gonna buy another one off ebay that did come out of a 6cyl in the summer

Here's an ebay link to a unit I was thinking about buying as a back-up unit.
I didn't destroy mine when I replaced the odometer wheels, so have at it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevy...QQcmdZViewItem

[redwheeler]

so does this all connect up to the wires i already have or do i have to run wires to make it work

[mike2004tct]

Originally Posted by redwheeler

so does this all connect up to the wires i already have or do i have to run wires to make it work

Direct replacement, no wire mods required. Wiring already exists in factory harness.

[s10blazerman4x4]

so any adjustments yet?