Renix gauge cluster swap with column shift - write up w/ lots of info/pics

[Airborne Janitor]

References used:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/how-gauge-cluster-swap-odometer-recalibration-lots-pics-424209/

http://comancheclub.com/topic/47867-how-to-cut-out-for-prndl-indicator-for-column-shift-full-gauges/

 

DISCLAIMER: Please note that this swap is for an 89 MJ. I included some details regarding other year MJs, but this swap is specific to my 89 so your mileage may vary. (if any of my info is inaccurate please let me now so I can update it!)

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If your MJ is like mine and it came with the dummy gauge cluster, you may want to swap to a full gauge cluster. I also have a column shift AW4, so some modification is involved on the tachometer gauge if you want tor retain the PRND31-2 indicator.

 

The first step is to find a donor cluster. You will want to find one close to your MJ's year, 84-86 or 87-90 or 91-92.

 

Here are some images of the 84-86 (bottom) vs 87-90 (top) clusters, sorry for the dust:

 

 

A better view of the 84-86 cluster. There are some obvious differences from the 87-90 cluster: gauge font/face, circuitry, speedometer cable retainer (metal clip), and the trip odometer reset is in a slightly different position (found this out when I tried to swap the plexiglass). The trip odometer on the older models also have a cap that is threaded, versus the 87+ ones which just pop on and off. This particular gauge I pulled off what was marked as an 89 Wagoneer, but it must've been an earlier model, full loaded leather/power...but had a 4 banger under the hood.

 

 

Pulling the cluster can be a pain in the @$$. Remove the screws holding the plastic dash trim piece, then remove the screws that hold the gauge cluster in place. There are 2 electrical connectors, one behind the lights on the left and one in the center of the cluster, and the speedometer cable is behind the speedometer gauge. I removed the grommet on the engine side of the firewall for the speedo cable, to give the cable a little more slack. Also removed the clock/dummy cluster to the right of the gauge, and the cigarette lighter for some more access. The 84-86 speedo cable retainer is a metal clip, that can be pushed in towards the cluster to unlock it.

 

For the 87-90s, you probably have one of these 2 plastic retainers:

 

Double clip:

 

Single clip:

 

Squeeze the clip and pull the cable out of the gauge (easier said than done).

If you have a column shift, there's a cable for the gear indicator that is attached to the steering column collar. Easiest thing to do is to pop the clip off the collar, see location (clip already removed):

 

 

Alternatively you can remove the plexiglass then also disassemble the giant fuel gauge and remove the indicator while the cluster is still installed (2 screws). Either way the indicator will have to come off the old cluster if you want to retain it for the swap.

 

You should have the cluster out now. Remove the four screws (5.5mm hex screws on the 84-86) that hold the plexiglass in place and remove it.

 

Ok, now your donor cluster probably has a different odometer reading that what your rig has. You can roll it back if it's a pre-91 cluster. Remove the speedo gauge from the cluster, one screw in the bottom right corner of the face and two on the back. Once the gauge is removed you can see the inner workings of the odometer on the back. There's a tiny gold c-clip on the left of the odometer that has to be popped off. I used an x-acto knife and put the tip on the inside of the "C", then pried up enough to create a gap to put a pick in. Then I pried the pick to pop out the clip.

 

 

Easiest way to adjust the numbers is to face the gauge towards you with your fingers operating the backside. Start from right to left, opening up space between each number enough to rotate the digits.

 

 

Once you've got the odometer set, pop the clip back in and reinstall the gauge.

 

COLUMN SHIFTERS: if you want to retain the gear indicator you'll have to cut the donor tachometer gauge face. Remove the tachometer from the cluster, 5 screws on the backside, 3 on top, 2 on bottom. I used the old fuel gauge that already had the cut out as a template for drawing the cut out on the new gauge. I used some tin snips to cut the fuel gauge so it would fit flushly against the tach before I traced my lines. Once my lines were good I drilled some holes in each of the four corners, then used a dremel to connect the dots. For the small vertical cuts I just swept the cutting wheel side to side until it was flat enough to finish with a file.

 

 

After cutting I used a file to smooth out the edges, then used a black sharpie to paint over any bare metal:

 

 

You will also have to cut a small square in the gauge cluster box to run the gear indicator cable through. I used a dremel:

 

 

Now screw the gear indicator into place and run the cable through, hopefully your donor already has the correct place to drop it in. 91-92 MJs will require modification.

 

 

Reinstall the tachometer gauge:

 

 

ALTERNATIVE CUT METHOD: if you don't have the steady hands or the tools to cut a clean cut out for the gear indicator, I had a back up plan. I took the old fuel gauge with the cut out and cut a straight horizontal line about 1/4" above the top of the cut out. I used my metal cutting band saw, but tin snips will cut the gauge face like butter. Just be careful, it's sheet metal, and will bend/distort if you get too over zealous on it. Use a file to clean up the cut edge and a black sharpie to paint the bare metal.

 

 

I kept the lower "mounting tabs" in case I decided to screw this piece onto the tach, but I think super glue/JB weld would be better for a flush fit. You can cut the cutout for the tach any way you want, just don't go too crazy. Attach the cut-out piece to the cut-out tach and reassemble:

 

 

Now you can attach the plexiglass piece. I had 4 different pieces laying around and all of them were pretty dirty/scratched up. My original cluster plexiglass was in the best shape, but I had to drill a hole for the trip odometer reset. I used another plexiglass with the hole in the correct location as a template. If you do this be careful, it's just plastic and it can/will crack. Don't forget to retain/swap the rubber grommet.

 

Since my plexiglass was in rough shape I washed all the dirt/dust off and used Meguire's headlamp restore kit to bring it back to life. Wet sanded with 1000 then 3000 grit pads, then polished in the PlastX and headlight protectant.

 

 

End result came out pretty good I think:

 

[Airborne Janitor]

Part 2 - Sensor Swap.

 

Since your old cluster just had on/off lights for the coolant, oil pressure, and voltage, you have to swap out a few sensors, specifically the coolant temperature and oil pressure sensor. Only place that had them around me was AutoZone, PS133 for the oil pressure, TU108 for the coolant temperature:

 

 

The oil pressure sender is on the backside of the oil filter housing. It has an electrical spade connector on one side and threads on the other. I don't know what size the old sender is, but neither 1" or 1 1/16" inch worked for me so I'm assuming it's metric. I ended up just using a big @$$ pair of vice grips to remove it.

 

 

New sensor on top, old sender on the bottom. Obvious size difference:

 

New sensor installed:

 

The coolant temp sender for the gauge is on the back driver side of the block, right next to the valve cover. 13mm deep well helps here:

 

New sensor on top, old sender on the bottom:

 

New sensor installed. The connector on mine was loosey goosey when installed on the new sensor, so I used some pliers to slightly crimp down the terminal for a tighter fit.

 

Reinstall your gauge cluster and you're done!

[HOrnbrod]

Excellent how-to writeup, especially cutting the shift indicator window.  :cheers:   A link for this procedure is now in the DIY Forum search index. 

[johnj92131]

Yes, excellent idea on cutting the fuel gauge!  Good pictures also.

 

Reminds me I need to get back to fitting the 87 tach in to my 94 police cluster, because the 87 tach face matches the 120 mph police cluster speedometer.

 

Excellent documentations.  Thank YOU.

[Zambeezy]

This is great, exactly what I needed to plan for my swap. Thanks for taking the time and putting in the effort to document all this!!

[pitbull4x4]

Wow. I know what I'm getting ready to do. Thank you very much for this write up

[Top C]

I am looking to do this swap.  I have an 87 Comanche, I saw the years you had 84-86, 87-90 and 91-92. So for my 87  I should look for one 87-90 would a 91- 92 work?

 

Thanks

Top 

[HOrnbrod]

The 91-92 cluster will not work. The housing, most of the gauges, and wiring harnesses are completely different. You need the 86-90 cluster with the blue case.

[Minuit]

You want an 87-90 cluster with a blue housing. An 84-86 can be made to work if you change the speedometer (or cable). A 91-92 cluster will not work without significant changes - the speedometer is electric, almost all of the gauges have different inputs, one of the connectors is different, etc.

[Top C]

I just found an 87-90 Cherokee instrument Cluster on Ebay in working condition.  Its  the one with the blue housing, so according to what  I've read it should work.  I'll need to do the cutout for the shift indicate but that's shouldn't be to bad.

 

So just to be clear this should be a plug and play deal right? I know I need to change the temperature and oil sensors but as long as the plug is the same on both it should be to bad.

 

Mike

[KellyQ]

Thank you so much for this post!  I did my swap to get the shift indicator in  and was able to get the correct mileage on the gauge after a PO “guessed” rather than using what was on the original gauge.  The hardest part was getting the darn thing out of the dash!  Many thanks for sharing!!! 

[Salvagedcircuit]

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. My 88 has the dummy gauge syndrome. This guide looks to be the perfect antidote.

many thanks!

 

Curious, why is the red indicator missing from the PRND31-2 indicator in your photos? Did it fall out or was it just not mounted yet?

Thanks.

[Airborne Janitor]

24 minutes ago, commissioneranthony said:

 

Curious, why is the red indicator missing from the PRND31-2 indicator in your photos? Did it fall out or was it just not mounted yet?

Thanks.

 

Theres a little spring in the indicator that pushes the red arrow all the way to the left side. When the clip/cable is removed from the steering column the arrow becomes hidden. Once you hook the cable/clip back up you may have to adjust the position to get the red arrow to line up. When you put your MJ in gear and rotate the column shift down it pulls the cable to the right/down to move the red arrow. It will make sense when you see it. 

[Salvagedcircuit]

Thanks. My PRND31-2 indicator is missing the red arrow. I have yet to remove the gauge cluster, so I'm hoping either the spring just came loose or the red lever fell off, but it could be anything at this point.

 

Is there anyway to tell if the gauge in an MJ has the plastic or metal retaining cap on the speedometer without removing the gauge cluster from the dash? Is there a way to tell or is it just luck of the draw? I want to order one from ebay but I don't want to end up having to buy a different speedometer cable.

Thanks!

[Airborne Janitor]

6 minutes ago, commissioneranthony said:

Thanks. My PRND31-2 indicator is missing the red arrow. I have yet to remove the gauge cluster, so I'm hoping either the spring just came loose or the red lever fell off, but it could be anything at this point.

 

Is there anyway to tell if the gauge in an MJ has the plastic or metal retaining cap on the tachometer without removing the gauge cluster from the dash? Is there a way to tell or is it just luck of the draw? I want to order one from ebay but I don't want to end up having to buy a different tachometer cable.

Thanks!

 

Hopefully the red arrow piece is still in there. The spring shouldn't be too hard to replace. I wonder if the retaining clip/cable fell off your steering column...

 

If you have an 88 likely you will have the plastic clip on the speedometer. Loosen the grommet on the firewall from the engine side to give yourself a little more wiggle room if needed. 

[Salvagedcircuit]

So If I get a full gauge off of ebay, Do I need to make sure the rear of the speedometer has a plastic fitting on it?

Thanks.

[eaglescout526]

You’re saying tachometer. Do you mean speedometer? The speedometer is cable driven and the tach is sent pulse signals from the coil for the revolutions from the engine. 
 

But if you’re looking at a black cluster, you just need to make sure it’s not an HO electric speedometer cluster. If it’s an early blue cluster, you’ll need to make sure the speedo doesn’t have a metal retainer to hold the speedo cable in place. 

[Salvagedcircuit]

My apologies, I meant speedometer. The speedometer is the one with the physical cable on the rear of the gauge cluster. Got ya. This is the specific gauge I am looking to buy.

I just want to make sure I get the right cluster so I can diagnose my potential overheating issues.

Does this one have the correct speedometer connector that would mate with an 88 Comanche speedometer cable?

 

Thanks!

[Airborne Janitor]

There was someone in the for sale forums that had a nice Renix cluster for sale recently too. 

[Salvagedcircuit]

Thanks! I forgot to check there

 

For clarification, the 84-86 gauge cluster features a metal stepped smaller diameter concentric extrusion on the rear of the speedometer. This extrusion has a c-clip style mating which the later 87-90 gauges don't have.

The later 87-90 gauges has a flush extruded speedometer mount which is geometrically simpler.

Since mine is an '88 comanche, I am looking for the 87-90 gauge cluster.

 

Excellent. Thanks.

The image below shows the 84-86 cluster

[robfg67]

How often do the 87-90 cluster with a blue housing come up on eBay?

 

I need to do this conversion, thanks.

[Airborne Janitor]

42 minutes ago, MJkid90 said:

How often do the 87-90 cluster with a blue housing come up on eBay?

 

I need to do this conversion, thanks.

 

Not often, and often over priced in my opinion. I've had better luck with local junkyard/pick n pulls.

[robfg67]

That's what I thought.

 

This one on eBay lists it as 91-96, but the housing is blue. Could it be an 87-90?

 

here

[Airborne Janitor]

7 minutes ago, MJkid90 said:

That's what I thought.

 

This one on eBay lists it as 91-96, but the housing is blue. Could it be an 87-90?

 

here

 

Hmmmm. The tag says 91, but it looks like it has a mechanical speedo. The blue color is right. I wonder if this was a replacement part built in 91?

[robfg67]

Followed the instructions carefully and love the results. Thanks to OP for writing this up.

 

I would add that you MUST release the speedometer cable from the transfer case so you have enough slack.

 

Very happy with the results...