speedometer swap

Discussion in '1973-1987' started by 85scottsdale, Jul 4, 2005.

  1. 85scottsdale

    85scottsdale Member

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2005
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    Location:
    little chute
    is it possible to take a speedometer from like a 73ish chevy or the meters that went to 100mph and put it in my 85 c10... would it read correct?

    ________
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    Last edited: May 14, 2011
  2. 73_79Chevy350

    73_79Chevy350 Member

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2006
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    7
    Location:
    racine usa
    i have also played with swapping gages out of the era trucks you
    can do it but you have to watch what you have vrs what you want I.E. oil presure as for the speedometer i believe it should work correctly. Its been a few years since ive done it and never paid too much attion to it ( never went by a speed trap trailer to calculate) find out if the speedometer is calibrated itself. hope that helped (at least alittle)73-79chevy350
     
  3. Pontiac1976

    Pontiac1976 Member

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    Aug 21, 2006
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    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    if full gauges

    yes you can swap out the speedos but some may read in K/m after 81 in the usa or if it's from canada and has 7 digits it K/m if it's 6 it's in Miles.
    same goes for the oil gauges in PSI or KPA water temp is another F or C
    BUT AMP and VOLTS are not inner changeable unless you do dash and fuse wiring because "fire if you plug and play with these"73-75 AMPs, 76-87 VOLTs. 73-80 mechanical oil pressure, 81-87 electric oil pressure.
    oh 81-87 plastic neddles 73-80 alum. neddles
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2006
  4. tech1

    tech1 Member

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2002
    Messages:
    333
    speedo swap

    You can switch the speedos, the needles my be a different color, but thats it. If you have problems calibrating the speedo you will need to change the small plastic gear where the speedo cable goes into the transmission.
     
  5. Old77

    Old77 Member

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    Dec 22, 2004
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    Location:
    Lee's Summit
    You should just do like I did and take out the gauges completely and put in Dakota Digitals! They look killer at night!!!! Well worth the high cost.
     
  6. 77 Chevy

    77 Chevy Member

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    Aug 21, 2006
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    Location:
    Mission, KS
    Hey Old77 do you have any pictures of the Dakota Digital gauges installed at night?
     
  7. redbeast

    redbeast Member

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    May 18, 2006
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    I'm not sure about the speedometer gauges, but the fuel gauges will not indicate correctly if it's a few years off. 1/2 tank indication = empty tank on mine.
     
  8. Old77

    Old77 Member

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    Dec 22, 2004
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    Location:
    Lee's Summit
    Here's a picture of them in right after I got the dash done before i put the carpet in the truck. You can kind of see them on but with the angle it's somewhat hard to tell. I don't have any at night yet but you can imagine how cool it is from this picture. :)
     

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  9. Pontiac1976

    Pontiac1976 Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2006
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    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Ok if you change the gas you should make sure the gas is the same size takeas you had,
    But the Gas gauge should not mater, " because the sending unit would be the problem different size tanks different sending units " or bad gauge, bad ground, bad leads, bad + connection gauge.
     

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