Swap 2000 Dash Into '96?

OK, so I have a '96 XJ I bought new, and I still love it. In the past couple of years I've put a reman engine in it, new alternator, water pump, radiator, hoses. I've also completely redone the front suspension (including ball joints) and had both front and rear diffs rebuilt, LSD rebuilt, new hubs on the front.

I bought a 2000 2 door recently and last weekend drove it from Columbia, SC to Miami, OK in just under 24 hours. The thing that stuck with me the most from that trip was how amazingly better the gauges were. I could read them!

I'm looking at a wrecked 2000 for the engine for my 2000 2 door. It has a nearly perfect interior. How hard would swapping the dash from the wrecked 2000 into my '96 be?

They are not directly compatible. Even the odometer reading is stored in the cluster.

Just search for a 97+ swap. You can't just swap the dash unless you're going to do some custom gauges.

Are you planning to swap the engine and everything or?

smokeyyank said:

Just search for a 97+ swap. You can't just swap the dash unless you're going to do some custom gauges.

Are you planning to swap the engine and everything or?

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Ideally I'd like to simply swap the 2000 dash into my '96.

I had a feeling it wasn't going to be quite that simple ... lol

The swap is possible, but very involved. You would also probably need a 97-01 PCM and engine bay wire harnesses to run the stock gauges, I doubt the 96 PCM has that function.

Is the difficulty of reading your gauges based on the lighting? If so, you can look into LED replacement bulbs for the Cluster. Onewaylight has some quality LEDs.

Goose_XJ88 said:

Is the difficulty of reading your gauges based on the lighting? If so, you can look into LED replacement bulbs for the Cluster. Onewaylight has some quality LEDs.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. Jason at Onewaylight doesn't have any more 84-96 LED instrument cluster sets, and doesn't know if he's going to do any more. Is there anyone else doing them?

Just did a quick google search and it looks like there are a few different kits you can buy on Ebay.