Speedometer

[Carmine]

Hi everyone. The speedometer needle in my '62 occasionally will bounce a little. What I mean by this is that if you're going 45 mph it will hold steady for a short time, then jump up to 50 mph or so, then return to 45 again. It also gets jittery in between. It appears to be the original cable. Do you think it maybe needs to be lubed or perhaps the speedometer head needs cleaning?? Many thanks, Carmine.

 

[skipxt4]

Could be either or both, Carmine.

 

[tripower]

The last thing you want to do is lube it. They cable is not suppose to be lubed. The speedometer head operates with magnets. If you lube it the lube will not let the magnets do their job and it will quite working all together. The head more then likely needs cleaned and the only way to do that is to completely disassemble the head.

 

[blkblk63ss]

Working in a ford dealership many years part"s department had a specific lube made for speedometer cable, it was a very light grease almost clear looking. I lubed many cable"s that were noisy and had some quiver to speedometer needle.I had a few of my own vehicle"s that I used this and fixed the noise and quiver, in fact the 66 chevy I now drive. Probably unable to find any more grease like that ,but I have seen white lithium grease as a alternative and or graphite powder.No need to remove housing from vehicle, just disconnect cable from back of speedo and pull out center flex cable with a needle nose plier"s and wipe clean and as you feed back in housing apply a coat of what ever you use all along the cable. When you get cable in close to tranny just keep tuning it and it will go back into the gear.Just make note how far the cable is in depth in the housing before you pull it out and you will know how far to go so you know it"s in all the way.II would try this and if it is still there then speedo need"s repair.PS I just found on another site post other than here that O"Reilly"s sell speedometer cable lube in a small tube.

 

[skipxt4]

I have had, good luck, removing the upper housing, from the speedometer head, and moving it to a more accessible area, and spraying motor cycle cable lube, down inside the housing. BelRay and Maxima are good ones.

 

[IMBVSUR?]

Triflow is a great alternative to lithium grease in certain applications. Clear and doesn't gum up like graphite stuff does.