'81-'87 Cluster & Tach

[86swb]

There is a true '81-'87 Factory cluster and tach on ebay. I know these are hard to come by.

[Kaysenmc]

here is the link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/81-87...Q5fAccessories

[95 S_Trucker]

that is for an 80-86, and if your truck has cruise it wont work anymore with that cluster

[snc4life]

[QUOTE=95 S_Trucker;3880437]that is for an 80-86, and if your truck has cruise it wont work anymore with that cluster[/QUOT

i may be wrong but 73-80 is the same and 81-87 are differant i put factory tach in both my 78 and 85 and the cruise still worked in both can you explain this for me i've seen alot of 80-87 talk on here as that being the change over for the front end ,glass and int change are there some 80 trucks that saw the change over? its alway's been 73-80 and 81-87 to me just curious

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by snc4life

i may be wrong but 73-80 is the same and 81-87 are differant i put factory tach in both my 78 and 85 and the cruise still worked in both can you explain this for me i've seen alot of 80-87 talk on here as that being the change over for the front end ,glass and int change are there some 80 trucks that saw the change over? its alway's been 73-80 and 81-87 to me just curious

Relative to cruise function:

I *think* 87 might be unique because it was the first year for TBI.

That changed the Vehicle Speed Sensor in the back of the cluster, which is what would affect the cruise (Not because of the front end change or anything like that).

For your other question, there were no 80 trucks that saw the front end change. You are correct when you say the model years were 73-80 and then 81 on up.

Incidently, I saw the '81 front end before it came out and I didn't like it. I hurried and ordered an '80 before it was too late.

But - I did the same thing later, too. I saw the GMT400 version for '88, didn't like it and hurried to order an '87 before it was too late. That's the truck I still have.



K

[95 S_Trucker]

[quote=snc4life;3880564]

Originally Posted by 95 S_Trucker

that is for an 80-86, and if your truck has cruise it wont work anymore with that cluster[/QUOT

i may be wrong but 73-80 is the same and 81-87 are differant i put factory tach in both my 78 and 85 and the cruise still worked in both can you explain this for me i've seen alot of 80-87 talk on here as that being the change over for the front end ,glass and int change are there some 80 trucks that saw the change over? its alway's been 73-80 and 81-87 to me just curious

it would be a direct fit for 78-86, but the font for the gauge faces changed in 80, it wont work on a 87 because there is not a VSS on the back of the speedo

the cruise control trucks have a little green box that plugs into the back of the speedo, that started in 83, my 85 had this, no more cruise for me the cluster posted does not have a spot for the green box to plug into

and it wont work in an 87 unless you remove the TBI. The ecm requires a vss signal, and the vss was mounted to the back of the speedo.

If you use the speedo your truck originally came with, the cruise would work on an 83 and up. you would need to cut the back of the cluster to get the vss to fit

[bigarmzz]

you seem very knowledgable about this stuff-

would a guy with a 87 need to have a "87" specific tach set up to work right? curious...thanks

[quote=95 S_Trucker;3880911]

Originally Posted by snc4life

it would be a direct fit for 78-86, but the font for the gauge faces changed in 80, it wont work on a 87 because there is not a VSS on the back of the speedo

the cruise control trucks have a little green box that plugs into the back of the speedo, that started in 83, my 85 had this, no more cruise for me the cluster posted does not have a spot for the green box to plug into

and it wont work in an 87 unless you remove the TBI. The ecm requires a vss signal, and the vss was mounted to the back of the speedo.

If you use the speedo your truck originally came with, the cruise would work on an 83 and up. you would need to cut the back of the cluster to get the vss to fit

[95 S_Trucker]

[quote=bigarmzz;3881027]you seem very knowledgable about this stuff-

would a guy with a 87 need to have a "87" specific tach set up to work right? curious...thanks


i *think* you could get an 78-86 if you wanted, and trim the white cluster housing so your original speedo with vss would fit in it. Im not sure if the circuit board or pins changed from 86-87