Stuck Speedometer?

[Tod59]

Hey Fella's,

Problem:
My speedometer on my 59 is stuck (see picture).

Symptoms:
It has a speedo cable in it, I removed the cable from the speedo assembly and the cable looks fine. I even sprayed a small amount of lube in the speedo hole, but no help. The cable had grease on it that was dark and stuck to my fingers upon inspection.

The speedo needle does move if you are going faster than about 30 mph.....but it only moves as the speed increases and will not go back to zero or below what it shows. since I didn't drive faster than 50, not sure if speedometer was just bouncing or actually moving....hard to tell.

I just got the truck a few months ago, so not sure where to start. Any ideas?

Thanks
Tod

[mr48chev]

Spraying lube in that hole isn't going to do anything as it's a blind hole. First off I'd pull the cable out of the housing and wipe it off and then lube it with white lubriplate and put it back in. Just some on your fingers on one hand as you slide it in with the other hand will work you don't have to over do it. Then you can pretty well figure that the cable isn't binding up.

I've taken some apart and cleaned them up and put a tiny bit of lube like sewing machine oil on the parts and put them back together but they are a bit delicate.

You might check your local directory for speedometer repair as most areas have a shop within a reasonable distance that repairs speedometers and or calibrates speedometers. http://www.yellowpages.com/mi/speedometer-repair

[Janky59]

Looks like time for repair/service. I sent mine off to AutoInstruments, Martinsville, VA for service, calibration. Old lube/grease probably has the works gummed up.

[Tod59]

Thanks guys.

[58CameoAZ]

I had the same thing happen to my 58 back in the day,and i ended up rebuilding the whole
unit by taking it apart and freeing up and cleaning it and using sewing machine oil like
Mr48 said. i was able to get mine to free up by cleaning the dust and gunk out of it
but it is a kinda delicate job and you are working with small screws and components.
I have seen were you can zero it back with tape on numbers that some of the vendors
have,not sure how well they stay on tho. But i was able to get mine to free up!
Good luck,
Allen

[_Ogre]

sadly i've had my speedo out more times than i care to say
a speedo works or it doesn't, yours is just hanging up
typically if the speed hangs, the needle is stuck on the face plate or the back
it doesn't take much to make them stick

pulling the speedo isn't terribly hard once the cluster is out, pulling the cluster is the hard part
there are 4 screws that hold the speedo in and it comes out in one piece
you can operate the speedo with a cordless drill to check it once you have adjusted the needle



pulling the odometer out to reset it to reflect the total rebuild of my truk
it's not illegal unless you try to pass it off at the lower mileage
usually there is a age that the dmv doesn't care what mileage your classic vehicle has

[_Ogre]

pulling the cluster is a good time to change all the light bulbs in the cluster too

[1project2many]

Ogre, why haven't you replaced all those spade terminals with a nice, single connector?

[_Ogre]

(insert eye roll here)

didn't have one available when i did it
it works as is, no need to change it now

[58CameoAZ]

Ogre,You mention changing light bulbs in the cluster,I bought a new wiring harness
for my 59 and found that the new some of the new metal light bulb fixture's would
stay in place and some would just pop right out even after spreading the split ring
area to try and make them more snug, FWIW, i ended up using a little bit of hot melt glue
around them once they were in place and worked out pretty good.
again FWIW,
Allen

[Tod59]

Thanks guys!