sewlow
Bitchin' Stitchin'
So, I picked up a set of needles out of a 'Montana'.
These...
and here's what they look like, installed.
They weren't that hard to 'dial in'. Pulled the cluster, removed the clear plastic cover, then re-installed the gauge cluster. Let the truck warm up, then, one by one, removed the needles on the right hand side of the speedo & replaced them with the Montana needles. Found out that I had to shorten the recievers for the gauge pins on the back of the new needles by about half. Just cut off the length with some side cutters, then re-opened the holes with a needle. 3 outa 4, I managed to nail the positions dead on. Had to mess with the fuel gauge a bit, but it's good now.
When it came to doing the tach, I had a bit more of a problem. Found that if the needle is out by the width of a hair at idle, it was out by as much as 1000rpm @ 4000rpm. So, off to my buddy's shop. Put a meter that has a tach on it, then rev'd the engine to 2000rpm & held it there while I installed the gauge. Got it dead on, the first try! (what are the odds?)
Now, for the speedo. I downoaded a GPS speedo app to my iphone, then went for a drive. Took the truck up to 60mph as per the GPS, and stuck the needle on. Came out perfect! Too easy!
Pulled the cluster out, replaced the plastic screen, & re-assmbled the dash. Done.
So, I'm lovin' the new needles. During the day.
At night, not so much. Because the Montana has a white gauge face, & our trucks have black, the needles don't glow right up to the ends, unless I have the rheostat cranked up the the brightest setting. But...I have always set my dash lights at the lowest setting I can get. I find that the bright setting is distracting, & annoying! So when I set the brightness of the gauges where I prefer them, only 1/4-1/3 of the needles are visible. And that's right down at the pivot point. Grrr!
I know that the larger bulbs on the backside of the cluster (194's) can be replaced with LED's, but they are either on or off. No adjustment in brightness. Not what I want. There are other small bulbs in the cluster, and I believe these to be for the various 'idiot' lights.
So here's my question. Which of these lights light up the needles? Can I just replace those with LED's. I'm not worried about not being able to adjust the brightness of those, because as it is now, the needles look the best at the brightest setting. If they remained as bright as some of the other LED gauge swaps that I've seen, all the time, it wouldn't bother me. But, I still want to be able to adjust the brightness of the gauges themselves. Is it possible to just change whatever bulbs that light up the needles with LED's, keep the other original bulbs for the gauges, & still retain the ability to adjust the brightness of the gauges?
Too much to hope/ask for?
These...
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and here's what they look like, installed.
You must be registered for see images attach
They weren't that hard to 'dial in'. Pulled the cluster, removed the clear plastic cover, then re-installed the gauge cluster. Let the truck warm up, then, one by one, removed the needles on the right hand side of the speedo & replaced them with the Montana needles. Found out that I had to shorten the recievers for the gauge pins on the back of the new needles by about half. Just cut off the length with some side cutters, then re-opened the holes with a needle. 3 outa 4, I managed to nail the positions dead on. Had to mess with the fuel gauge a bit, but it's good now.
When it came to doing the tach, I had a bit more of a problem. Found that if the needle is out by the width of a hair at idle, it was out by as much as 1000rpm @ 4000rpm. So, off to my buddy's shop. Put a meter that has a tach on it, then rev'd the engine to 2000rpm & held it there while I installed the gauge. Got it dead on, the first try! (what are the odds?)
Now, for the speedo. I downoaded a GPS speedo app to my iphone, then went for a drive. Took the truck up to 60mph as per the GPS, and stuck the needle on. Came out perfect! Too easy!
Pulled the cluster out, replaced the plastic screen, & re-assmbled the dash. Done.
So, I'm lovin' the new needles. During the day.
At night, not so much. Because the Montana has a white gauge face, & our trucks have black, the needles don't glow right up to the ends, unless I have the rheostat cranked up the the brightest setting. But...I have always set my dash lights at the lowest setting I can get. I find that the bright setting is distracting, & annoying! So when I set the brightness of the gauges where I prefer them, only 1/4-1/3 of the needles are visible. And that's right down at the pivot point. Grrr!
I know that the larger bulbs on the backside of the cluster (194's) can be replaced with LED's, but they are either on or off. No adjustment in brightness. Not what I want. There are other small bulbs in the cluster, and I believe these to be for the various 'idiot' lights.
So here's my question. Which of these lights light up the needles? Can I just replace those with LED's. I'm not worried about not being able to adjust the brightness of those, because as it is now, the needles look the best at the brightest setting. If they remained as bright as some of the other LED gauge swaps that I've seen, all the time, it wouldn't bother me. But, I still want to be able to adjust the brightness of the gauges themselves. Is it possible to just change whatever bulbs that light up the needles with LED's, keep the other original bulbs for the gauges, & still retain the ability to adjust the brightness of the gauges?
Too much to hope/ask for?
