I have a 1988 F150 4x4 w/the 5 speed manual tranny and 4.9 ltr engine,no cruise control,my speedo cable broke so i ordered a new one from a dealer,my old cable has a 2 prong electrical connection tied in with the cable at the gear end where it goes into the transfer case,the new one doesn't have the connector on it,the dealer said that is the cable it calls for and that i should use it and not hook the wires up,does anyone know what these wires hook up to,what they control? any help would be apreciated..

thanks,steve

 

I just put a new cable on my 88, and it was just the cable and housing, the gear sending unit still stayed on the truck. Check to make sure you can't just pull the spring retainer out of the old speedo gear, remove the old cable housing, and install the new one.

Unless you mean the sending unit gear thingy broke, and not the actual cable. In which case, as far as I know those wires are only for cruise control. I had mine unhooked for about a week with no problem, except my cruise control wouldn't work.

 

Those 2 wires are for the Speed Sensor for the cruise control amplifier.

 

Thanks for your help guys,tomorrow i'll bring the old cable into the dealer and see if he can match it up with the right stuff..

thanks again

 

I'm converting my 88 2wd to 4wd and was looking at the speedometer driven gear in the transfer case.

In doing some research, here's what I've found which I believe to be correct.

There are two types of speedometer cables.

Type one.
If you have cruise control, there is a speed sensor assembly that plugs into the transfer case. (Driven gear is mounted to the sensor unit and held on by a cir clip). The sensor has two connections. The speedometer cable plugs into one of the connectors and a two wire electrical plug which goes to the cruise control amplifier. So there are three seperate units. The speedometer cable, the two wire electrical plug and the speed sensor assembly. (This setup should work if you have cruise or don't have cruise). If you don't have cruise the two wire plug is not used.

Type 2
If you don't have cruise control, the speedometer cable is one piece and has a barrel end on it that the driven gear is held in place with a cir clip. the unit just plugs into the transfer case.