Just bought a 1998 Ranger with 2.5l four cylinder and 5 speed manual transmission. Standard instrument cluster is in poor condition and has no tach. What is involved in swapping to optional instrument cluster, and what years will fit? Thanks in advance.

 

Any 95-03 cluster from a ranger or explorer will work. Direct swap

 

Any cluster from 98-03 will fit the truck with no modifications to the truck. Plug and play swap. Clusters from 95-01 Ford Explorers / Mercury Mountaineers will also fit with no issues, however the pins for door ajar and fuel reset are swapped; meaning that every time you open the door, it'll turn on the fuel reset light. I do not remember which pin this is, and there's no compelling reason to use an explorer cluster over a Ranger cluster.

First, pick your cluster. There's the standard black face with white numbers, the rare 03 silver face (like I have swapped in), and there's also the popular white face cluster. All of these clusters have a tach, and they're all laid out the same, color scheme being the only difference.

Once you have your cluster, you need to pull the dash apart. There's a lower kick panel (where the hood latch installs) and there are four bolts holding that on. Two under the latch, and one on both far ends on the bottom. Once removed, this section pulls off, being mindful of the two clips up top. Simply pull to remove.

Underneath you will find a, likely rusted, metal panel with 5 or so gold 8mm bolts holding it on. Remove these and the panel will simply drop free when the last bolt is removed.

Next, you need to remove the radio bezel. Two 7mm bolts hold it in, and it's simply pulled out like with the first panel we removed. We need to remove this so that another panel can be removed.

Next, with the same 7mm socket you were just using, remove the two bolts on the bottom of the instrument cluster bezel, which were previously hidden by the first panel we removed. Once those two are out, remove the three bolts in the top of the shroud itself. Looking into where the gauge cluster is, feel up and you should feel three bolts semi-recessed. Remove these. Again, pull the panel to remove. It is held in by clips.

To remove, it helps to lower the steering column, and in the case of autos, to select gear 1. There is an electrical connector on this last panel. These are a real b**ch, so make it easier on yourself, and just remove the dimmer and headlight switch with a phillips screw driver. The **** on the headlight switch simply pulls off. Don't worry about putting it back on straight, it's keyed.

With all of that out of the way, remove the four 8mm bolts holding the cluster in and disconnect the electrical connectors. You should find three connectors.

Your manual gauge cluster will have a filler plate that will need to be swapped into the new cluster, which will likely come out of an automatic. If you're pulling the replacement cluster yourself, and it is an automatic, there's a black cable that runs down through the shift column to a white piece of plastic where it's bolted onto the column itself. This cable holds a tiny wire that allows the selector to show you what gear you're in. One bolt holds it in and it can be worked through the cluster. This can be a pain, but it can be done. Rotation, rotation, rotation...

To remove the selector and install your filler plate, both clusters will need to be mildly disassembled. Believe it or not, these are easy to take apart and put together. There's a number of gold screws holding the clear plastic lens on. Remove this lens and set it aside to be cleaned. No better time than now.

Remove the two outer parts of the cluster by pulling them straight out. Using a flat head screwdriver between the white and black sections on the cluster body helps. Repeat the same process for the center portion. The selector should then come free and can be replaced with the filler plate. Simply reverse the disassembly steps to reinstall.

 

Didnt know about the pins. Coulda swore the one I got for my 98 was out of a 97 monty. Guess not.

 

Yeah, strangely enough. I had put in a blue explorer cluster in mine as a test and was surprised to see that light come on instead of door ajar. Threw me for a loop and a half.

 

Wow. What a wealth of information! Thanks so much. I'm glad I found this forum and will no doubt be asking many more questions before I'm happy with where I think this little truck should be.

 

Where can I get JUST the replacement panel that houses the headlight and dimmer switches? My panel has three banana plug connectors broken off! Is there a special name for this lower panel? If I need to ask the junk yard for a replacement, it may help to know what the name of this panel is. Thanks in advance.

 

I don't know what the official name for it is, but I've always called it the 'instrument cluster bezel'. People seem to know what I'm talking about when I say that.

You know, if you have the clips you could glue them on with JB weld. That's some tough stuff, the original specifically. Project Farm has a couple videos on youtube testing glues and whatnot.

 

I have a 2000 ranger that does not have a tach in the instrument panel and a 97 from a truck with frame issues. I have already tried the 96 panel in the 2000 but had no speedo or odometer and one of the gages didnt work. All functions in the 2000 cluster worked and in the 97 the speedo and all functions but the odometer and trip odometer worked. I was hoping you could help me with the pinouts for the 3 plugs identifying by placement and function, so I could possible make this work by moving the wires to where they would be for the 97 gage.
Thanx in advance

 

I just did a bulb replacement on my cluster only had 2 of the 6 working. The worst part was getting the mechanical shift indicator back on the hook thing. Took me awhile to finally get it on their and I was getting really irritated. You have a manual so you won't have to deal with that.