Speedo cable issues

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Apr 23, 2012 | 11:37 PM

agaristo77

Thread Starter

Freshman User

Joined: Mar 2011

Posts: 38

Likes: 0

From: Portland, Oregon

Speedo cable issues

Hi all, just replaced the speedo cable in my 83, and.....it still doesn't register speed. When I pulled the old one out, it was chewed up at one end, with some wire sort of spun around the area where it plugs into the t case, and it was also worn, or melted through in an area. thought it would be a simple fix. am I to assume that the speedo drive gear is shot? or could it be an electrical issue w/ the printed circuit board?

thanks for the help!

Apr 24, 2012 | 01:06 PM

greystreak92

Lead Driver

Joined: Sep 2002

Posts: 9,182

Likes: 12

From: Gateway to the West

Your speedometer is entirely mechanical. The wire you found splayed out in the end at the transmission could well have caused some damage to the speedometer gear. They are fairly easy to come by unless you have some odd axle gearing to compensate for.

May 3, 2012 | 08:04 AM

FourXFord2

Elder User

Joined: Sep 2010

Posts: 667

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From: Small acerage in Nebraska

The speedo gears are still available from the Ford dealers and the set is reasonable price, just changed mine last month (was non functional) You will need to know which color/ tooth count the gear on the cable is. If you have larger tires or have changed the gearing, now would be a good time to get the right gear so speedo runs right. Was informed that one step in tooth count affects the speedo by about 4.5 mph @ 60mph. So if your speedo is "slow" you need to go to a larger gear. My '91 has a yellow gear, 18 tooth,(I think) and is slow because of the stock gears and 33" tires so I've ordered the 20 tooth gear to get the speedo to read correctly.
Give me a holler if you can't figure out how to remove the inside gear.