They're a half year only deal, from the later portion of '90.5 going into '91. Unicorn in the sense that they accept the wiring harness of the moonie cluster yet have the needle style of 91 and up. This allows the early crowd to run a cluster with a tach with minimal fuss. I've heard that if you have a '90 with a moonie, the unicorn cluster is a direct plug and play, not sure if you have to add a signal wire for the tach. If you've got a '91 and down, you have to move a few wires around and run a signal wire for the tach. Only PITA is the speedometer. Depending on what the unicorn cluster came out of, it might need to be recalibrated. Pretty straight forward swap though and if I can do it, anyone can do it.
I love the moonies, but I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble to retrofit them instead of the boring needle gauges.
Ahh. Good to know. I thought I was getting ready to add to my list of "things to keep an eye out for" list, lol!. Luckily (or should I say "so far"), I only have '93 & '97 to worry about.
My moonie cluster works ok except for the temp gauge. It's out ot the truck at the moment. The gauge itself seems.ok. so will.look further for the issue. When my ohm meter is applied the gauge moves. Flip the leads and it moves the other way. Its just a glorified volt meter. Can't afford a modern cluster right now. Would someone be willing to sell.me a working moonie cluster? Thanks! Ken
I thought this shit account had been deleted. This and the post quoted are both mine. Thought I'd post that to relieve any confusion. Thanks! Ken
"That's just like, your opinion, maaan." For me, the benefit is two fold; Diagnostic aid if the ICM goes wiggy and our trucks are sticks so it's easier to rev match and what not. If they made the moonie cluster with a tach, I'd run it instead. Benefit to the moonie cluster is that the individual gages can be replaced individually with ease as they just pop out, IIRC.
I REALLY like the Dakota Digital offerings, but it might take me a while to convince myself to spend that much.
Yeah, I got mine years ago when they were a lot cheaper than they are now. I'm happy with it plus, I can calibrate my speedo without touching the VSS signal adapter on the back of the cluster. You know prices don't usually go down, ha ha.
Personally I would hang on to the cluster. Everyone is dumping them. Eventually these trucks will be worth something and the original gauges will be hard to find. There are other dash gauge clusters that will work. I'm seeing less and less of the 88-94 trucks in the junkyards.