Installing Clock in a truck that didnt come with one

[CJ_Chevy]

i was just wondering if you can just buy the clock that fit in the lower left corner of the bezel and install it in to my current cluster. My truck did not come with one from the factory.

[xrcr]

Chances are the printed circut on the back of your cluster won't have the leads for a clock. If you get a printed circut with clock leads your harness might not have anything to power it with. I'd think you could wire your clock independently to an "always" hot point. However, there are much wiser people on here than me so hang loose and we'll both learn something.
xrcr

[bigwheel15]

Originally Posted by xrcr

Chances are the printed circut on the back of your cluster won't have the leads for a clock. If you get a printed circut with clock leads your harness might not have anything to power it with. I'd think you could wire your clock independently to an "always" hot point. However, there are much wiser people on here than me so hang loose and we'll both learn something.
xrcr

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the clock doesn't run off the printed circuit, it has an independent plug on the back of it.
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[Telecasterjoey]

Originally Posted by bigwheel15

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the clock doesn't run off the printed circuit, it has an independent plug on the back of it.
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You are correct clock is independent of the cluster
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[ramz]

Originally Posted by xrcr

Chances are the printed circut on the back of your cluster won't have the leads for a clock. If you get a printed circut with clock leads your harness might not have anything to power it with. I'd think you could wire your clock independently to an "always" hot point. However, there are much wiser people on here than me so hang loose and we'll both learn something.
xrcr

If its always on a hot point wouldn't that eventually run down the battery???


I was thinking about buying one for mine.

Thanks!

[Cheapster]

Originally Posted by ramz

If its always on a hot point wouldn't that eventually run down the battery???


I was thinking about buying one for mine.

Thanks!

It would eventually run down the battery, but then so would a car stereo if it sat long enough. Direct power for memory and time on them newer radios. Doubt the clock draws that much. Probably take a couple weeks to over a month for the clock to kill the battery.

[THE "10" SILVERADO]

The clock does not have leads on the cluster. You will need to cut a hole in the cluster to run power to the prongs on the back of the clock. It will eventually run down the battery but unless you are sitting for months it won't matter.

The older 79- clock harness will work the same as the newer 80+ models.

When I bought a new clock for mine on eBay I was sent a harness for it but I already had a clock and the harness. I MIGHT still have the harness I never used. I doubt I do but I will look for it tomorrow when I go to my shop for it and if I can find it I can send it to you free.

[SBTork]

Don't be at all concerned about running the battery down. I've let my suburban sit all of last winter with the battery hooked up and it fired right up in the spring. The clock even held perfect time!

[madcow75]

If the bezel just has a blank area then it doesn't have the correct screw holes to mount the clock. I tried to mount one in my 76 bezel and it didn't have the 2 screw holes for it.

[wilkin250r]

If the clock WASN'T connected to power 100% of the time, then it wouldn't be moving during those times it wasn't powered, and thus it wouldn't keep time. What would be the point of having a clock if you needed to set it every time you fired up your truck?

As for the complexity of adding a clock, I believe the front bezel is all the same, but the clear lens is different, as is the molded plastic housing that mounts all the gauges. I don't think the lens can be modified, but it's not difficult to find and replace. I'm not sure on the housing, it might be possible to modify it to mount the clock, especially since it could be as ugly as you want it won't show in the final product.

Heck, you could take a dremel to it and cut everything out, then epoxy in a hunk of wood to mount the clock, it will look just as good as factory when it's all in place. But it might be just as easy to replace the housing, they're still fairly common in junkyards and ebay (although LMC only lists a housing without the clock)

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by madcow75

If the bezel just has a blank area then it doesn't have the correct screw holes to mount the clock. I tried to mount one in my 76 bezel and it didn't have the 2 screw holes for it.

Were the plastic towers there?

[madcow75]

Yes mine didn't have the plastic towers

[parrisc19844x4_468]

You will need the cover with the hole in it, I guess you could drill it.

[xrcr]

See what I mean I learned something. I sure thought it was part of the circut, however my 76 does not have a clock but the 84 cluster did. I went with the 76 circut. I've never been that into time.
xrcr

[carboncrew]

This is for my 1991 ccsb.

I bought a new lense and had to drill the hole for the trip odometer...could've bought a new lense without clock hole and drilled that too. I also had to fab up the area for clock to mount properly.



The needles on the clock vs tach vs factory did not match so I painted them with this:



It's an almost perfect factory color orange.

[texastruckjunky]

What year did they start putting clocks into the trucks? I've never seen a 76 year model with a clock.

[DubDubU]

be very careful and most importantly take your time

[x ReAcT x]

Originally Posted by carboncrew

This is for my 1991 ccsb.

I bought a new lense and had to drill the hole for the trip odometer...could've bought a new lense without clock hole and drilled that too. I also had to fab up the area for clock to mount properly.



The needles on the clock vs tach vs factory did not match so I painted them with this:



It's an almost perfect factory color orange.

I really really want to have a tach in my 86 Pickup if at all possible. Is that tach originally from your 1991? and what does ccsb mean? Im new to this forum as you can tell haha

[carboncrew]

React,
The tach came from here: http://www.gmsportssalvage.com/?q=node/1316
It's plug and play

CCSB: Crew Cab Short Bed

No problems...I'm new here too!

[x ReAcT x]

Originally Posted by carboncrew

React,
The tach came from here: http://www.gmsportssalvage.com/?q=node/1316
It's plug and play

CCSB: Crew Cab Short Bed

No problems...I'm new here too!

Do those gauges have a plastic backing or are they a metal backing??

[slimneverdies]

Originally Posted by carboncrew

This is for my 1991 ccsb.

I bought a new lense and had to drill the hole for the trip odometer...could've bought a new lense without clock hole and drilled that too. I also had to fab up the area for clock to mount properly.



The needles on the clock vs tach vs factory did not match so I painted them with this:



It's an almost perfect factory color orange.

I wonder does anyone have pics of what you did here now that the pics aren't showing here anymore. I'm trying to install a Quartz clock in the blank space on my gauge cluster also.

[carboncrew]

Hmm...seem to have lost the pics I had. This is the completed cluster. Wiring was just plug and play if I recall correctly.

[carboncrew]

Originally Posted by x ReAcT x

Do those gauges have a plastic backing or are they a metal backing??

Mine was metal (again, if I recall correctly). I know some didn't like the 'sticker' face, but you really can't see it at all.

[slimneverdies]

Originally Posted by carboncrew

Hmm...seem to have lost the pics I had. This is the completed cluster. Wiring was just plug and play if I recall correctly.

Thanks. Do you have any pics of how you mounted the clock? The plastic towers are way off and the column it sits in looks like it's a bit small for the case of the clock ...

[truckin 79]

I just put a clock in my 79 because I was tired of looking at the blank space on dash. I used a quartz clock and the lower mounting hole fit into the plastic tower by the temperature gauge but the top mounting hole on clock did not mount to anything but stays put just fine with just lower mounting hole. Don't forget hole in plastic lens also supports clock as well. I drilled some holes in back of plastic cluster for wires to fit through, I made sure I held circuit board out of the way when drilling. I also didn't use factory plug since it is so bulky, just spliced some wires with female connectors on them to slide over terminals.