Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

Hey guys,
Installed a new speedometer about 6 months ago (never lubed it) and now that I am driving the truck it bounces all over the place. 0-35 only bounces 5mph or so but after it goes up to 70 when I go 45. Also Sometimes it sticks (?) and makes a tremendous noise on top of the usually bouncing noise.

I already have my dash put together so I don't want to remove the cluster, I can reach the speedometer cable housing through the back so my question is. Can I just unplug the cable, put some sort of grease on it and then re-install? Do you think that would solve the problem?

Also what type of grease? WD-40, White Lithium, Bearing Grease, graphite based???

Thanks,
Michael

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

It best to clean the cable and the outer sleeve both. You can spray carb cleaner in the outer sleeve and stick the cable in and spin it to loosen up any gunk the spray it out. Coil up the cable, stick it in a bucket or bowl and spray it with carb cleaner, use a brush if needed.

Through trial and error I found that yellow all purpose grease is the right thickness. It's the kind that comes in a tube for a grease gun. I'm sure other greases of the similar thickness will work too. Too thin of lube like white lithium grease makes for a jumpy needle as it doesnt dampen the cable like a thicker grease does.
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Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

Awesome info...when the weather warms up I'm doing this..Thanks

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

Not to sound stupid but how do I get it off the transmission?

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

Clean the cable core and housing if possible. Speedometer shops use white lithium grease on the cable core then reinsert into the housing.

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

Use moly wheel bearing grease, you will never have to mess with it again.

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

I used white lithium and it lasted about a day before the churp came back

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

Took everything apart and lubed both the speedometer and cable with white lithium grease. Drove a while and nothing changed. Pulled apart again and put in some medium thickness grease out of a grease gun. IT GOT WORSE. Large screeeching noise all the time and now it bounces about 30mph from around 20mph. Just ordered a new cable cause I'm not going to mess with this one anymore.

Do I need to lube the cable when it gets here?

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

how did you guys remove the cable, did you only remove it fro the trans or did you also remove it from the cluster.

i was trying to remove it from the cluster and then unscrew the housing to pull the inside cable to lube it with some wheel bearing grease but i could not remove my cluster out. on the top right side, it hits the metal frame part of the dash and on the bottom left, i cant lift it up enough to clear the metal fame. did not want to breake the cluster. all the dash is removed ok. thanks.

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

You have to remove it from both. On the cluster, it doesn't screw in. There is a small clip and if you hold the clip and pull it will come out. The transmission end screws to a "bullet" type peice that holds the small plastic gear. The bullet is held in the transmission by a clip type thing bolted with a 10mm bolt. You must remove both and grease. I just replaced mine last week and it no longer makes any noise and only limited bouncing from 20-25 mph.

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

was you cluster hard to pull out from the dash? thats the part i am having trouble with. did you have to bend the metal part of the dash to be able to pull the top right side of the cluster out? also from the how did you remove it from the fire wall? thanks for any help u can provide...i was frustrated after iremoved all the stuff only toget stck with removing the cluster....

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

The cluster is attached with screws. From your post I assume you already took them out. I doubt you are stuck on the wire harness on the back. What I had to do to get it back in after replacing my gauges was just work carefully. You must push the cluster back and pull out on side at a time. I don't remember if the top comes out first or the bottom but it cannot fit in at one time. The speedometer cable just pulls through a grommet in the firewall also if that's what your asking.

Just be patient with it cause it is a PITA.

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

the areas in the circle are my stuck areas.

is this the rubber grommet u r talking about. is it easy to remove and do you remove the cable from this grommet if you had to replace thecomplete cable?

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

From the pictures I think I remember pushing the cluster back into the dash, fliping it a little so the top was sticking towards me (in seat) and then puling it out that way. It took some work but it comes out eventually.

Also yes that is the grommet. It is only large enough for the cable so when you try to pull the housing through it will be tough. I just took a flat head screwdriver, pushed it through, and worked it a little to widen the hole. Putting the new one back in was tough so I just got an omni-bit and drilled the hole a little bigger.

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

thanks. i'll give it another try tomorrow and see how it goes.

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

i grease mine several years ago was "squeaking" didn't remove any gauges just reached under the dash un hooked it and pulled the cable out of the housing, applied grease as it was worked back in the housing very simple few min. job. In my experience.

Re: Greasing Speedo Cable.
 

Yeah, I did that a couple of times but it never helped in my case. I just unhooked it and pulled it completely out and replaced. Somewhere along the line a two piece cable was installed when I was only supposed to have a one piece. Blew the old one out with air and all kinds of crap came out. No wonder it was making that god awful noise.