Cluster swap from '96 to '91

[acfortier]

Is this a direct swap? Are there any changes in the individual gauges from '91 to '96 that would make them inoperable? I broke the needle on my gas gauge and got a cluster from a '96 XJ in the junkyard, but the needles on the '96 are whiter than those on my '91, so thought about swapping everything over. Tach should work, since it came from a 4.0... I would think everything else would work? Would the speedo be off?

[Big Dan]

Edit - Disregard, you said 91. I'll let an HO guy chime in

[eaglescout526]

I don't see why it wouldn’t work at all. Should be a direct plug n play honestly. 

[acfortier]

1 minute ago, eaglescout526 said:

I don't see why it wouldn’t work at all. Should be a direct plug n play honestly. 

That's what I'm thinking, too... couple other Google searches confirmed the same.

[eaglescout526]

I don’t see why not. Be odd if Chrysler did that. Just the Renix and HO years are what we know to be different except for the temp, oil and volt gauge are the same. Tach might be too. I have a HO full cluster if you ever need more parts. Can’t confirm the year

[acfortier]

The real question is, how can I swap in the new odometer (which reads 186xxx) to match what is currently on my odometer (231xxx) without spinning it by hand, which will probably take me hours, lol. Might just have to keep the old speedo with it's yellowish needle.

[eaglescout526]

Renix years seem to be the only one with a modifiable speedo but I’m sure you could pull the speedo face off with the needle and swap needles around. I can take my parts cluster this evening and confirm this if you would like. 

[jeeptec1]

91 is obd 1 96 is obd2 May not working.


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[acfortier]

1 hour ago, eaglescout526 said:

Renix years seem to be the only one with a modifiable speedo but I’m sure you could pull the speedo face off with the needle and swap needles around. I can take my parts cluster this evening and confirm this if you would like. 

If you want to, up to you. I think the only way to recalibrate the speedo if the needle is removed would be to use a GPS app on my phone and put the needle back where it should be... which doesn't sound like fun.

 

9 minutes ago, jeeptec1 said:

91 is obd 1 96 is obd2 May not working.


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I'm not sure if that really matters in terms of the gauge cluster.

[eaglescout526]

3 minutes ago, acfortier said:

If you want to, up to you. I think the only way to recalibrate the speedo if the needle is removed would be to use a GPS app on my phone and put the needle back where it should be... which doesn't sound like fun.

I’ll give it a shot. I took two 84-86 speedos apart but haven’t tested their accuracy yet. The center has a natural return position which as long as you leave the needle there and put it back, it should remain the same. 

[acfortier]

I thought about the natural return position, but I wasn't sure if that was stopping because of the rubber piece that stops the needle. If the needle isn't there to stop it, it may keep going?

[eaglescout526]

The older ones don’t seem to have that stop. I think that’s to stop it from spinning backwards as the Renix ones do run backwards when in reverse. 

[ghetdjc320]

I can confirm the 96 cluster works just fine in the 91. All 91-96 xj/mj clusters are interchangeable and there were no canbus (obd2) clusters until 97 in the XJ. You can modify the odometer if you are very gently at working with tiny plastic parts and work gears. You’ll need an exacto knife and some heat to remove the worm gear and then the odometer cylinder. You’ll have to move the mileage forward to get to where you need to go. 

[Minuit]

I have a 96 full cluster in my 91. It will make things extremely easy if you ever want to use the UK market 125mph speedometer.

[acfortier]

14 minutes ago, ghetdjc320 said:

I can confirm the 96 cluster works just fine in the 91. All 91-96 xj/mj clusters are interchangeable and there were no canbus (obd2) clusters until 97 in the XJ. You can modify the odometer if you are very gently at working with tiny plastic parts and work gears. You’ll need an exacto knife and some heat to remove the worm gear and then the odometer cylinder. You’ll have to move the mileage forward to get to where you need to go. 

Yeah, I can see that it's held in with some plastic tabs over the small metal rod that runs through the cylinder. Didn't know if I want to try to cut through/break that to get the cylinder out...

[ghetdjc320]

12 minutes ago, acfortier said:

Yeah, I can see that it's held in with some plastic tabs over the small metal rod that runs through the cylinder. Didn't know if I want to try to cut through/break that to get the cylinder out...

Yeah there are 4tabs on that cylinder that index the numbers and prevent them from being turned until you pull the whole cylinder. If you carefully heat the ends that hold the stew rod it will come out smoothly. It’s just a bit tricky 

[acfortier]

I got the whole cylinder removed, but there isn't a way to move the individual numbers--it's like there's some internal mechanism that's holding them in their proper place. At least I can spin it a lot faster?

 

[ghetdjc320]

45 minutes ago, acfortier said:

I got the whole cylinder removed, but there isn't a way to move the individual numbers--it's like there's some internal mechanism that's holding them in their proper place. At least I can spin it a lot faster?

 

You can adjust them one at a time starting from the lowest numbers. They will adjust without removal. Just takes some fiddling with it.

[acfortier]

8 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

You can adjust them one at a time starting from the lowest numbers. They will adjust without removal. Just takes some fiddling with it.

Yeah, I tried to rotate some of the numbers manually and they didn't seem like they wanted to budge. I'll give it a shot again, but didn't want to break it.

 

Or, I guess I could rip out the other odometer and plop it into this one.

[87MJTIM]

There is a "C" clip on the shaft.  Remove that clip.  That will allow you to spread the counters apart.  You can then rotate the counter to the proper numbers - one at a time.  When done, you put the clip back on and reinstall everything.

[acfortier]

Doesn't look like there is a c-clip on this one:

 

[87MJTIM]

Hmmm...mine has a C clip.

 

Can those disks slide back some to allow the counters to spread out?

[eaglescout526]

This looks like the same issue I had with the 84-86 clusters. I just ended up swapping the cylinders around to the speedometer I wanted. 

[acfortier]

38 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

This looks like the same issue I had with the 84-86 clusters. I just ended up swapping the cylinders around to the speedometer I wanted. 

Yeah, I think I might just do that. Wasn't too hard to get the cylinder out of the first one, and I think it'll stay in place once it goes back in.

53 minutes ago, 87MJTIM said:

Hmmm...mine has a C clip.

 

Can those disks slide back some to allow the counters to spread out?

I tried, but didn't want to force/break it.

[acfortier]

Well, I don't think I'm going to swap them. The new cluster has a different setup than the old one. You can see the difference in the two speedometers: