slimpicken

Can some body tell me if I can just swap an instrument cluster out of any similar dodge diesel truck into mine? How is the mileage memory stored? My display lines in my odo. have been broken for over a year and I can't read my milleage or tell what gear its in and it has caused almost all the service and warning lights in those displays to stay on. I would like to just get one out of a wrecked truck or something if I can find one.

slimpicken

Nothing?...bump

rockcrawler304

One from the same year and model should work just fine. The mileage (odometer) is stored in the trucks computer.

doorguy

Mine was swapped out with one from an 04.

slimpicken

Figured it was stored there but wanted to make sure.
Thanks guys

imaybail

When mine went out, the dealer had to order one from the factory with the same mileage as mine. Truck couldn't move until new one was installed.
That indicates to me that the mileage is stored in the instrument panel somehow.

doorguy

Mine now shows the milage and hours of the donar truck.

dieselfumes57

its stored in the cluster....... buy one from a wrecked truck at a junk yard and do the switcheroo and u have less miles now. Time for warranty work

BroncoHound

Just thinking out loud here, but would it be possible to remove the display from the donor unit and replace the burnt out display on the original unit with it? That way you don't have to order a new, pre-programmed cluster from the dealer (at dealer pricing) in order to retain the CORRECT data for your vehicle. I haven't removed the cluster and looked at it's internals to see if this can be done, which is the reason I ask.

And on a personal note, i think it's pretty shady to welcome the idea of replacing the cluster with one with fewer miles unless you intended to be upfront with the change (and have logged at what mileage both on the cluster and on the truck itself the swap occured) at the eventual sale of the truck. Selling a truck with a cluster that registers fewer miles/hours than the truck actually has is fraud, plain and simple. That's all I'll say on the topic, I'm not you guys' mothers so you certainly don't need a lecture from me. Just something to think about.

HorseBack4x4Gal

I agree!

And on a personal note, i think it's pretty shady to welcome the idea of replacing the cluster with one with fewer miles unless you intended to be upfront with the change (and have logged at what mileage both on the cluster and on the truck itself the swap occured) at the eventual sale of the truck. Selling a truck with a cluster that registers fewer miles/hours than the truck actually has is fraud, plain and simple. That's all I'll say on the topic, I'm not you guys' mothers so you certainly don't need a lecture from me. Just something to think about.[/QUOTE]

doorguy

I did not say anything about trying to rip somebody off.My truck went from 197000 down to 40000, it is all documented.Besides Dodge has your mileage on file for that vehicle, everytime you take it in the mileage is put in their computer system.