[zach2011]

Hi all.

I've seen a few people here and on the Charger forums who talked about swapping the instrument cluster/speedometer in their 2011-2014 300/Charger for one of the new ones found in the 2015+. I had a similar cluster in my 2015 200 and really enjoyed the large display, so I have been slowly watching out for one for my 2013 JV 300C. It has to match, so I was looking for a 160MPH version (for V8 cars) AND it had to be from an S model due to the gloss black trim.

Finally found one tonight that met those requirements for a great price so I ordered it. Wanted to see if anyone else has done or attempted this swap and what all is involved. If I recall correctly from the Charger forums, it mostly works, except the gear indicator will not display (don't really care about that) but the big issue is that none of the steering wheel commands are recognized. They were able to get the wheel buttons working (or most of the way) by using a CAN bus sniffer but I have no experience with that.

Basically just wondering if anyone here might know what to do, would really like to turn this thread into a tutorial for installation. If anyone has experience with CAN bus "sniffing" or modifying it would be a great start. Tanbam from here is who installed it in a Charger over on those forums but has not logged on here since 2015. I did read through the entire thread on those forums but it doesn't really explain what to do, and eventually activity died out.

 

[zach2011]

Anyone at all before I let this thread go? I just got the speedometer in today and I can’t wait to see how it functions tomorrow. I have gotten in contact with one guy who was heavily involved on this project on the Charger forums but he does want $400 for a plug and play device that will supposedly get this new cluster working fine. If anyone at all is interested I would be glad to take pics tomorrow of how initial testing and installation/fitment goes.

 

[DGO]

Yes please love to see the before and after and understand what does and doesn't work

 

[zach2011]

Great! So, I tried it out today. Here is the cluster.

First thing I noticed - removing the existing cluster is pretty. You just pop out the two wood/trim pieces on the left and right of the dash, loosen the trim directly under the speedometer/behind the steering wheel (you may need to drop the knee panel to do this), and pull the cluster lid (the trim piece above the cluster, mine has stitched leather like the dash) straight towards you to unclip it. Then the speedometer is held in with 4 screws and it comes right out.

The new cluster fits in this spot pretty snugly BUT...the cluster lid does not go back on. A new lid from the 15-17 models is needed which I was unaware of. However, it did power up and chime, and it works except a few things:

• Steering wheel controls, of course, do not work. Changing the steering wheel out to a 2015+ wheel will not fix this issue. This is the main problem but has been fixed by the people at the Charger forums, however that thread is dead and I may be on my own here.
• The cluster told me to service ACC/FCW, which I believe is another thing the Charger guys fixed with their Canbus tools.
• Mileage is probably stored in the cluster so I will need to pay to get it programmed to match mine, but that will be my last step.
• It also seems the compass is not showing up there in the top left corner but it could be something else.

Here is a pic of the cluster up and running. This is as far as I can get with it until I can figure out how to program the 2015+ steering wheel commands to my car. And then I'll get the cluster lid, and then finally get the mileage corrected. Would really appreciate any CANBUS insight if anyone can help.

 

[Justin Parker]

I want to do this to mine let me know how it goes.

 

[zach2011]

Hope to achieve it at some point. Only thing is the one person I know of who has gotten it to work is not too friendly and only wants to sell me a "plug and play" device for $400.00. Which is over twice what I paid for the cluster itself and who knows what he'll actually send me, if he sends anything at all. Too risky for that much money. I find it funny because on the Dodge forums he had said the device only costs around $60 in parts, and he would gladly give free building instructions to those who wanted to build it themselves. Yet now all he wants is to sell me a $60 device for 6x the price. I've asked for just help building my own but nope, he just wants to make money. When I reminded him of that post he threw a little b***h fit and told me "man $400 is fair" and stopped responding so I'm at a loss either way lol.

I posted here hoping someone with Canbus knowledge would read and help out but so far no luck. Part of me thinks if I change something else out it might work; I think tanbam was saying that he thinks it's the BCM that controls the steering wheel commands so changing it out to a 2015+ BCM might do it but I'm not sure if one would be fully compatible with a 2013 car. Like it could fix the steering wheel issue but something else may have issues.

 

[Justin Parker]

I do have some skill doing soldering and wiring I imagine its just plunging shit into the right spot.

 

[zach2011]

I do have some skill doing soldering and wiring I imagine its just plunging shit into the right spot.

Soldering experience is a good start for building the device if required. The real issue here though is the coding.

Basically, our steering wheels send a code to our current cluster when we push a button. Let's pretend pushing the cruise control on button sends a "1". The issue here is that the new cluster is programmed to new, totally different codes. So in this case, when we push the cruise control button, our car sends a "1" but the new cluster is looking for something else, like a "0". Therefore nothing happens.

Replacing the old steering wheel with the 2015+ steering wheel does nothing, it still doesn't work, which means it's controlled somewhere else. Likely the BCM, as I just read about the BCM being responsible for controlling steering wheel buttons on other, earlier 2000 Chryslers. Hopefully that is still the case today and swapping them out will make it work.

Otherwise, we have to know what the "new" cluster's steering wheel button codes are by reading them off of a working 2015+ vehicle, then building a device that reads the 2011-14 commands and replaces them with the 2015 commands. Which is exactly what they did on the Dodge forums but only like 2 or 3 people did it and no one is around to help anymore. So, it's possible. But way beyond my knowledge. I may just end up buying a 2016 BCM and seeing what happens when I swap it out with mine.

FWIW, I didn't try the paddle shifters, but I do know the controls on the back of the wheel still worked, but this is probably because they have nothing to do with the cluster itself.

Also, here is the Dodge thread regarding the matter: http://www.chargerforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277825

 

[zach2011]

Finally an update on this.

The Z-Automotive Tazer device is currently beta testing a cluster swap feature. As of right now, the 2011-14 steering wheel buttons DO work with the new 2015 clusters (if you use a Tazer)! There are still other bugs being worked out in the meantime, depending on how equipped your car is you may have messages on the screen like "Service ACC/FCW" and "ParkSense Unavailable" - however, ACC still works but you don't see anything happen on the screen, and the parking sensors still beep in forward or reverse, just again, nothing on the screen. But I am told these are currently being worked on.

 

[Justin Parker]

Neat too bad that tazer cost a bit of money. I wonder if I could use a 2015+ steering wheel with it.

 

[zach2011]

Neat too bad that tazer cost a bit of money. I wonder if I could use a 2015+ steering wheel with it.

That’s what I am wondering as well, those behind the Tazer update do not have a 2015+ wheel to test it, but theoretically I think it should work. If I can find a used one cheap enough I’ll definitely try it, but I’m specifically looking for a black S wheel with heated wheel, paddle shifters and ACC buttons so that might take a while lol.

 

[Ev0lv3]

Following, I'd love to get the 2015+ cluster in my car, and working properly.

Did you get the new top piece? And did it clip into place, or did they change that as well? lol

 

[zach2011]

Following, I'd love to get the 2015+ cluster in my car, and working properly.

Did you get the new top piece? And did it clip into place, or did they change that as well? lol

I haven't gotten the new top piece yet, I've been waiting until the ACC/ParkSense warning errors are fixed, but if you trim the plastic tabs on top of the cluster lens it will fit with the existing top piece, but it's not a perfect match. I'll buy the new one as the final step, once the error messages are gone and the mileage has been programmed and I am 100% ready to use it.

For cars that don't have these features (and therefore no error messages to worry about) I would think it's pretty much fully working.

 

[Crunkz1]

I'm in for more details. I really want to do the swap, but I dont want to dive into anything without it being complete first, as for this is my only transportation, daily driven car. But I would love to swap the cluster.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[ManniV]

Any update to this? I recently found a 2016 that I am pulling parts from to do various swaps, and the cluster is one of them.

 

[ilovechi23]

I have an update for this post ....I have a 2011 Chrysler 300 and I was able to put a 2015 cluster in my 300. They use of the tazer help tremendously since the controls didn't work prior to using the tazer. I also was able to use the same cluster lid with some mods of the bracket. Just cut them down and the lid will go on. There is a small cubbie hole since curves of the cluster and lid don't match but I will be looking at some options to patch that. For the time being Im happy and going to look at more mods for my 300...I hope this help someone....

 

[vince56190]

Hi
sorry it's hard to understand for me , i'm french.
Could you explain more how you do that?
you just use TAZER or someone modify lot of thing to map the old button with the new cluster.

 

[vince56190]

And what about the map oin the cluster ? it' s just arrow like old cluster or a full map ? did someone have a picture of that ?

 

[ilovechi23]

Hi
sorry it's hard to understand for me , i'm french.
Could you explain more how you do that?
you just use TAZER or someone modify lot of thing to map the old button with the new cluster.

The tazer from z automotive is what is used to get the buttons on the steering wheel to work with the cluster. I don't know about a map I haven't seen that and since I don't use the navigation in my car I never tried it .. but I'll check it in the morning.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[vince56190]

Ok i see the new tazer firmware is able to do that.