I'm searching for threads on speedometer repair for my 54 F250 and not finding anything yet if anyone can point me to some thanks. My question is, while driving I could see the unhooked speedometer cable was spinning so I think it is ok. I put it back on the speedometer in the dash, the needle never came up, but made a kind of squealing, grinding, noise. Would the square hole inside the dash be rounded out, can it be repaired, has anyone had any experience with this?

 

What I would do, is pull the cluster out and use a Robertson screw driver and give it a few quick spins, the needle should at least bounce up a bit, if not, the mechanism in the speedo head may be siezed, give it a few shot's of penetrating fluid, let it sit and try it again in a few hours or even days. The speedo head recepticle's usually never round out, due to the fact the speedo cables are woven wire. if that fails and you can't get the speedo to work, then take it to your local calibration shop and have it checked out. (most cities have a speedo calibration shop of some sort, to verify speeding ticket dispute's). Good luck.

 

^ What he said. I had to spray WD-40 in mine to get it to work after hooking up a new cable.

 

Thanks for the quick responses. I did find a few posts after I sent mine about a oil hole in the back of the housing. Right now the needle is down at the bottom of the guages, I think when I hooked up the cable it did move up some, hopefully that means it may not be broken? Am I understanding they work on a magnetic system inside the speedometer?

 

They wear out. There are several places that can repair them, United Speedometer comes to mind.

It's also possible that your cable is just too short, the part inside the outer housing. The inner cable can also be twisted in half in the middle, you can pull it out of the outer from the bottom end.

 

Hello out there, I am new to the site, so, hope all is well with every one. I am trying to solve my speedo problem. It seems that the cable goes bad every so often this last time it viberated so much it caused the needle to come off the center mount.
Question?
what causes the cable to self distruct? every so often in my case it is about 3k miles, or about a month. (my last cable was a little shorter than this one) this one was about a foot longer, I thought that there may be some binding some where but could not find any evidence.

Is there any one out there that does a digital conversion for the older trucks?

 

Where should the needle be sitting in park? Mine is sitting down in the dang oil pressure window.. should they be at 0? I hooked up my speedo cable (C4 conversion cable from midfifty) and all i get is a squeeling noise while driving so i unhooked the cable while doing research. Any help is a bonus!!