i have a 98 f150 xlt and was thinking about replacing the who gauge cluster since im having some issues with it. my question is, does the odometer stay with the cluster or will it be swapped with the cluster out of another truck? thanks

 

The odometer and pats is in the cluster. When you swap it out you will need to have your keys reprogrammed into the new cluster and pats and the odometer will read what ever the donor vehicle had. that can be changed when they program the keys.

 

Is your odometer analog or digital? If it is analog, cluster replacement should be pretty easy. If it is digital, then you have to go to dealer... which is what I had to do when swapping XL cluster to L (w/ tach) cluster (I ordered mine new from Tously Ford with correct mileage):

 

The Keys/pats would still need to be programmed. If your keys have the black plastic on it it is a PATS key. Those have to enrolled into the pats in order for the truck to start.

 

No, the dealer can NOT change the odometer reading.

 

The 98 and older do not have PATS, so that a non issue for your use case.
- PATS is with digital odometer, which was intro'd in the 1999 MY on the F150.

The mileage for the mechanical could be changed, but now it would start to look suspicious at time of sale. No chance chancing something not looking right when you go to sell the vehicle.

Easiest route for you, if the mileage is lower, take a picture of the factory and the new to be swapped in clusters next to each other, so you know where you are at.

If the one swapping in is higher mileage, don't sweat it.
- It is already 16 years old, adding 30K+ miles is not going to hurt resale value when that day comes.

The IL SoS does not require odometer certification on vehicles 10 years or older at time of transfer so you don't have to fill that section in when you sell it.
- Just use the side by side pictures to show what was done on what date. If you want to go all in, keep the old cluster, and give it to the person that buys the truck as additional proof of the documentation. Not a bad idea either way.

 

What issues? If it's the odometer conking out, then you can replace the worm gear. Get one on Ebay. If it's everything else going wrong, then you can probably swap the odometer units between clusters and call it a day. I have no idea what exactly that involves off the top of my head, because my only tach cluster swap adventure was with a '94 Ranger and you could just swap odo/speedo center sections between clusters and keep the mileage on the up-and-up. I knew of 95-later Ranger guys that pulled off that kinda' operation, though.