Tach stepper motor replacement info needed.

[sewlow]

Like the title says.
Bit o' history, first.
My '98 has been sitting now for almost 2 YEARS!!! I walk past it at least 20X a day to get into my shop. This is killing me!
Blew the intake manifold gaskets & didn't catch it soon enough. Aaaarrrrgh!
Got 30 miles outa the repair before the bottom end dropped! Double aaarrrgh!
Intend to do an LS swap, but time to work on that has been an issue. I'm swamped with work. The swap was supposed to happen over last winter. Walked away from 2 6.0's, 'cause I just haven't had the time or space even to keep the new engine hanging around.
Ended up getting a fairly low mile 4.3/4L60e for free! A coupe of friends & myself dropped that in, in no time. 1/2 a day! Did all that only to find out that the flex plate is broken. Soooo...it's been sitting ever since. Yea, I know. Easy fix. Just kinda lost steam on the truck.
In between the time of the old engine dying, & the new one going in, the truck got sideswiped while it was parked in storage. Took 9 months, but I finally got that doofus to cough up enough cash to pay for a new box. It's a beauty! And it's already black! The purchase of this put a fire under my butt to get back working on it. I've purchased a ton of parts for it over the time it's been sitting. I've got everything to re-do the interior. Vinyl, leather, carpets, sound deadener, etc.
Now, I've gotta move, so the truck is on hold again! Hopefully, it's gonna be back on the road this summer. But with a 4.3 (sniff!)

Alright, enough of that!
Here's the prob. I installed an Escalade cluster. LOVE it! But...the tach stepper motor in the Escalade cluster doesn't like the V6. Not one bit. I'd like to swap out the stepper for the V8 & install the stepper outa the original V6 cluster, with the ability to re-install the V8 one once the LS swap is done.
I'm not an electrical whiz by any means. But I can solder, & follow directions.
Does anyone out there know how to do this? I've looked and cannot find anything here on the forum with detailed instructions, and PIX! Never done something like this. I'm sure that it's pretty easy & simple, but as I want to re-use parts, I don't want to screw any up to the point that they are not serviceable again.
C'mon guys! I've got a fire under my butt to get back to working on my babe, & this'll keep me going. One small step at a time to keep the interest until the big mods get started.

(Yea, I know! Another freakin' novel!)

 

[Half Assed]

The motor unbolts with a torx screwdriver (T7 bit IIRC).

Now whether or not that will make it read right or not...I have no idea.

 

[Half Assed]

The two halves of the cluster come apart by pushing on the motor pins sticking out of the back of the cluster. That will separate the gauge face from the housing (take off the clear cover first obviously).

You will also see the odometer is swappable also if you want to change that over as well.

 

[sewlow]

So that's all there is to it? No re-wiring/soldering? Just unbolt the V8 stepper via the torx, & replace with it with V6 one??

 

[great white]

When I pulled the tach out of my 98 cluster to drill for the LED change it was a simple matter of undoing the
torx bolts.

Be careful though, it's in very brittle plastic and easily broken. Mine was split just from the OE installation. I put the pieces back together and hot glued it (had it out for the led install anyways.

Now, that's in a diesel. My cluster is a bit less "electronic" than the escalade's would be.

I say give it a try. What have you got to loose?

 

[Half Assed]

Yes, I doubt that it will make it read right, but it's worth a try I suppose.

 

[Yeti_Owner]

I don't think the motor itself is the issue. There is probably a chip on the board that actually handles the interpolation of the ignition pulses to the needle movement. Show me a photo of the back of the cluster, please. It needs to be pretty decent resolution.

 

[sewlow]

Thanks, guys! No hockey game tonight, so I'll be at the kitchen table, torx & clusters in hand! I'll post up the results!

 

[Yeti_Owner]

I'm guessing it's got a frequency-to-voltage converter on it, and that's the widget you need to change.

 

[sewlow]

I don't think the motor itself is the issue. There is probably a chip on the board that actually handles the interpolation of the ignition pulses to the needle movement. Show me a photo of the back of the cluster, please. It needs to be pretty decent resolution.

Uh-oh! Really? I was told that the steppers were engine specific. Second hand info, though.
That does make sense. Escalade cluster is still in the truck. I'll get some pix later this eve.
Thanks!