It seems to be the standard for diesels is a magnetic sending unit off the flywheel, the sending unit reads the pulses per revolution. We have a custom cummins 4bt diesel project we are doing and it needed a tach as well. I was suggested a altinator style tach and wasn't impressed with the type of install or results so I ended up going with this style which seems to be the norm, the magnetic sending unit by flywheel is how the trucks are geting the tach reading now, I believe.
So I bought two types of sending units, a single and a dual output, well see which one is gonna work best. I figured using the dual output to supply the transmission and the new tach, if it starts to pose a problem I'll leave the original magnetic unit in and set the new single in the second port of the bell housing which is a vent. I'll just vent some other way by drilling and tapping, the bung is already drilled and tapped for the .75 x 16tpi unit. Stay tuned, I'll be wrapping this up asap and getting into a Pyro and boost guage next, still doing research on the best quality units for diesel applications. I think it's crucial to have all the guages that tell you what ur engine is doing and how it's feeling. I think then I'll start the research of the difference between a 225hp 3116 and a 290hp 3116, both are mechanical, the m1078 has 225hp, and any m108 or m1083 has 290hp, basically any 6x6 has 65hp more than a 4x4.