Adding gear indicator to instrument cluster?

Hell everyone,

New guy to the forum. I tried using the search on this site to see if anyone has installed some sort of gear indicator to their instrument cluster between the tachometer and speedometer. On my 04 Tacoma i notice that there is a vertical rectangle just above the O/D indicator and I assumed that was a place holder for the gear indicator. Has anyone messed with this before? All I have seen is tutorials on how to replace bulbs and replacing the cluster but I haven't any about adding a gear indicator.
Appreciate the help.

 

That would be pretty cool...

 

Traditional "gear" indicators using conventional illumination (ie, not 12 segment display, LCD...) are segmented by which gear you are in.

For example, there is a series of say, 5 boxes (P,N,D,3,L) that are joined in a cluster. Each time the gear lever is moved, it illuminates a different segment of the box and tells you which corresponding position you are in.

If you're planning on making one into that small of a space, you'd need a small LCD, a custom programmed microprocessor and a travel indicator with SOME form of incremental steps in order to make it display the correct place.

NOW! it's not impossible, but it's not really cost advantageous for someone to design one.

If you were VERY clever, you could use the various transmission outputs to signal a transistor to power an LED inside of a box, but thereagain, you'd still need to segment the back of the panel in order to make it clear.

I would just like to say... Good luck

 

And as an addition, it's fairly easy to learn how to make a custom counter using a small 12 segment display, so figuring it out would just take some time and a fair bit of cleverness.

And yes, with a 12 segment display you could make all of the desired positions, albeit, for drive, the "d" for would be lowercase or look like "0"

 

Maybe "|>" ?

 

somehow I managed to not only miss that it's either a 14 or 8 segment, but I did miss that combination due to the fact that for some reason I made a weird connection in my head!

So yes. That would work... If someone wanted to design it... lol

 

I like the idea, and it't tempting to figure it out.

 

Honestly, my '08 has a dash indication and I never even look at it. I just go by the floor position.

 

I was thinking a live indicator, like 1st, 2nd, 3rd. That'd be pretty cool

 

I was thinking that I would make a vertical panel with PRND21 etched into it. There would be flat LEDs behind the panel: green for D, Red for P, Yellow for R, orange for 2 and 1. The leads would be connected to the gear shifter where I would make contact points. I would run power from the car lighter near the shifter.

 

you could probably have an acrylic panel laser cut for fairly cheap for the lettering. You could also just go to a scrap yard and cut one out of a generic one that already has one and put it in there if you want to take the easy way out

How big is the space that you want to put it in? I have a manual so I don't know what your cluster looks like.

whatever you end up doing, post pictures, because that's pretty snazzy

 

it's going in btw the speedometer and tachometer, but I haven't taken out the cluster to do an exact measurement. Sad part is can't do this job until October when I get 2 weeks vacation from work. But rest assure I will post pics once I start But I am going to go use a local 3d printer shop to make the panel for me. 3D printing is freaking cool.