Aftermarket Diesel Tachometer

[Rod9865]

I am in the rebuilding process of my 73 3000 ford diesel. I am not going back with the stock gauge cluster and I am going to install manual oil and temperature gauges. I want to put a tachometer in there and was wondering if anyone has installed a aftermarket tach in one of these. I know they have ones that work off the alternator and pulse from the flywheel but I don't know alot about them.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Rodney

 

[RodinNS]

I've never seen or heard of anyone installing an aftermarket tach. I suspect it would be a very expensive venture... Kinda puzzled why you'd do that....
An alternator with some type of pickup would probably be the easiest. The Hall sensor type on the flywheel would be tricky... Neither will be cheap.
Wouldn't be easier and cheaper to simply fix/replace the OEM type?

Rod

 

[Bern]

You could get a good quality aftermarket tach such as an Isspro shown here: http://www.isspro.com/proddetail.php?prod=R8530M for less than $200. If you had an alternator with an AC tap (not all have these), you could drive it with that. Or, you could use a simple two wire magnetic pickup and have it look at your flywheel teeth. A simple hole drilled in the transhousing would get that done very easily. One thing would be for sure: it would be a whole lot more accurate than the factory tach.

 

[souNdguy]

i saw a tch drive on the injector pump one time. didn't get a close look to see if it was a stock pump or what.

soundguy

 

[Ultradog MN]

Myself I prefer the idiot lights. I don't always watch guages so if a big red oil or amp light comes on it gets my attention NOW.
A couple of points to ponder; by the time you buy all the fancy tach and guages you will have more $ in your tractor than you would by keeping it stock. And as for resale (not that you are considering that) OEM will bring more money just because it's "normal".
One thing you might consider if you are basically starting from scratch is to install the tach drive on the top of the oil pump like the 26/36/4600s had. Then buy the X600 style cluster and go with a 10SI alternator.
The tach drive should be available from a junk yard and I think would fit on your late model 3000 block.
I'm thinking tach drive $50 + X600 cluster $160 + 10SI alt $40 = $250. Would be a nice, reliable setup and have pretty much the appearance of original when you were done.

 

[RodinNS]

The 7000's used that setup but I don't beleive all pumps support that.

Rod

 

[RodinNS]

What did you see wrong with the factory tach? I can't say that I've ever checked one against anything else to verify speed... but they've certainly been reliable other than the odd cable. The same can not be said for the electric driven analogue types they used in later years...
Every time I get on my TS90 and the needle starts jumping from 0 to 2600 and back, then does a few spins for good measure... I wish I had the old cable drive Stewart Werner...

Rod

 

[Rod9865]

Thanks for the replies. The reason to go with a different setup is because none of the factory stuff is any good. I had the generator tested at the shop and it is bad, the cluster is beyond repair, and all the wiring is ate up by rats. I figured I would just build me a nice looking plate where the cluster was and stick manual OP and WT gauges in there. Top that off with a 10SI alternator and have a bare minimum of wiring to deal with. I would like to have a tach to get the right RPM for my implements but it is not a necessity. Ya'll do have a valid point about the stock cluster, it would really look nice and original, but I will add up the costs and see where I will come out. I might change my mind, I have a long way to go before I get to where I need to install this.
Again thanks for the replies and have a great day.
Rodney

 

[souNdguy]

ahh.. now I remember where I saw it. a buddy was buying a 5000 that had it. i figure the pump from a 7000 musthave been put on since it had a M&W turbo kit. that must be the ticket... you jogged my memory on where I saw it.. sound plausible?

soundguy

 

[RodinNS]

I did one this past spring for a guy... basically your same problem. NAPA alt (10si) was about 100 bucks with lifetime warranty. Angle drive for the new style cluster was I think 56 bucks. Cable was 30 bucks or so and I think the cluster was 230 bucks. These were all A&I parts IIRC. The cluster was a 3600 OEM style, heavy... made of aluminum rather than the PVC that Ford switched to. This particular cluster fit without any sender changes. Also very minimal wire changes. That was really just to remove the VReg and install the alt... but if yours is bad... one good yoink and haul the whole mess out and start over would be just as well. You only need half a dozen wires at most, even with the OEM cluster.
The only thing I will say about this A&I cluster that I do not like... the tach needle is slow to respond. It behaves more like a lazy electric needle than the true Stewart Werner clusters that would respond to every speed change and every kink in the cable... How these will last... I don't know. But for basically 400 bucks you can get a new cluster and components along with a lifetime warranty alt. Just leaves you making brackets for the alt and doing the wiring... and get a new fanbelt. What I did was flip the lower gen bracket over so that it points up rather than down, then elongate the holes to slide the bracket ahead. Then you need to make a new top bracket. I just cut one from 1/4" plate and shape it with a grinder. Takes some time but not much money...

Rod