i have 2'' tachometer gauge... how do you install on a Ford F-150?

Question

what does it plug or wire up to?

Answer 1

Usually they come with a tach built in unless you have the economy version.

Its quite a lengthy process. I was able to do it on my vehicle because the tach came with detailed instructions with visualizations (i.e. diagrahms). It is also a lot harder to wire the tach with a newer vehicle. The older the car is, the more basic the electornics and mechanics are, thus making it a lot easier to hook up the tach. So hopefully you have an older car.

Basically the tach needs three basics things. It needs a power source not only to power the needle but also to turn on the light bulb inside of it. The power source is hooked up to a 12 volt ignition switch. This means that you would hook it up in your fuse box usually located under the dash on the driver's side. There are words on the fuse box with several fuses. There should be a section that says "ignition" and what that means is that anything hooked up there will have electrical power current going to it as soon as the ignition is switched on. Another part of the power source wiring is that it will need a ground. That means you will need to run a wire to any flat metal surface in the cabin.

The most difficult thing to set up is the wires running from engine to the tach that send the signal to tell the tach how fast the engine is going (i.e. rpms). On older cars you will need these wires to run to the coil which is pretty easy to hook up actually, but thats only on really older cars. I am gonna say 1980 and under. On newer cars equipped with a ECM (engine control module) the wires would need to run to the ECM. There is a certain place for the wires to hook up the the ECM and that gets a little more complicated because there are several wires running to the ECM. Thats why its the hardest part to wiring a tach and thats why I said its easier on older vehicles because you can bypass the ECM and just hook the wires up to the coil, which usually is really easy to access. The coil on the older cars looks like a big round battery.

I would look at the instruction that came with the tach for a better understanding. You will be able to save a couple bucks by doing it yourself and you always feel good when you are able to say "yup, put that in myself," to your friends.

Answer 2

Many manufactures sell brackets to hold 2" gages. You can mount it under the dash, but a popular mount is the A pillar mount that puts it in the left edge of the windshield at eye level. Stewart Warner and Autometer both make one for Ford Pickups.