Turning odometer back to 0
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Senior User
Joined: Jun 2014
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Turning odometer back to 0
Today was a great day!! Got my new Jasper rebuild 400 put in my 79 F250. Edelbrock intake and carb, edelbrock chrome valve covers, and all new accessory parts. If I knew how to upload pictures I would!
Anyhow, I am going to keep the truck for many years and pass it on down to my children. Full restoration is coming soon. I am not trying to do anything illegal. My title already says mileage not actual. I really would like to turn the odometer back to 0 with the new Jasper rebuild. Anyhow know how to do this or have done it?
Please don't tell me to drive backwards!!!
Anyhow, I am going to keep the truck for many years and pass it on down to my children. Full restoration is coming soon. I am not trying to do anything illegal. My title already says mileage not actual. I really would like to turn the odometer back to 0 with the new Jasper rebuild. Anyhow know how to do this or have done it?
Please don't tell me to drive backwards!!!
Posting Guru
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,323
Likes: 3
From: Sunny Florida
Okay, I vaguely remember this from the teen years. Skipping school to the beach required us to remove some miles from the odometer. A cordless drill hooked to the odometer cable worked on my buddy's Corola. Of course, you have to go forward, not backwards. An old car salesman said they cracked open the instrument cluster to roll em' back by hand. Never tried that method though.
Laughing Gas
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,140
Likes: 13
From: Port Orchard Wa
If you pull the instrument panel and remove the odometer from the panel you will see that the numbers are run by gears threaded on a long pin. The pin can be pulled from one end of the housing allowing enough slack in the gears to rotate the numbers to zeros. It takes a little fussing around to get all the digits to line up again, but then you just press the pin back in.
If you haven't been into the instrument panel before, you need to know the housings in that year are prone to turning into dust before your eyes. I recommend replacing with a repo or later model since it will eventually cause you grief..... Bulbs wont fit tight, etc.
If you pull things apart and it's not obvious, I think a have a spare unit in the shop that I could take pictures of.
If you haven't been into the instrument panel before, you need to know the housings in that year are prone to turning into dust before your eyes. I recommend replacing with a repo or later model since it will eventually cause you grief..... Bulbs wont fit tight, etc.
If you pull things apart and it's not obvious, I think a have a spare unit in the shop that I could take pictures of.
Cargo Master
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,038
Likes: 4
From: South west Idaho
How many miles show on it ? Using the drill forward until it hit's 100,000 then it starts over at 0 . If it's showing less than 50,000 , then run it back to 0. I have removed them and rolled them back by hand but it's easy to damage so treat it easy. I see new ones on e-bay some times , most want about $100.00 for them.
Postmaster
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 4,724
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From: Rogersville, TN
Laughing Gas
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,140
Likes: 13
From: Port Orchard Wa
Are the 79's bad for that type of thing or is it this entire body style in general? I am fixing up a 79 for my son and I always turn the odometer back to 0 when I rebuild an engine. I had planned on doing that as well as painting the needles orange, but don't want to mess anything up since he is 16 and he's going to be the one paying for it
The cluster backs were made of a composite material vice plastic.
In 1981 Ford came out with HARD PLASTIC cluster backs for Econolines. These were also the "Service Part Replacements" for 1975/79 F100/350, 1975/80 Econoline, 1978/79 Bronco POS composition backs.
A number of places also sell Repo plastic versions.
I should credit numberdummy for the detailed info.
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Postmaster
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 4,724
Likes: 4
From: Rogersville, TN
Thanks for the info on that. I'm pretty careful not to damage stuff when I take it out, but some things are just poorly designed and better left alone. Good to know that is one of those things.
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New User
Joined: Jul 2014
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**ATTENTION** dear government person reading this, i am never going to use this junk yard speedometer for any vehicle. it is broken for decoration purposes only sits on shelf above computer, please do not arrest me. thank you kindly.
Lead Driver
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 7,877
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From: Tennessee
**ATTENTION** dear government person reading this, i am never going to use this junk yard speedometer for any vehicle. it is broken for decoration purposes only sits on shelf above computer, please do not arrest me. thank you kindly.[/QUOTE]
More Turbo
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 611
Likes: 3
From: Estevan, Saskatchewan
lol tried doing this on an old 83 s10. buggered the odometer. bought a parts dash and just swapped them out. truck had been rebuilt and new motor and stuff countless times so mileage didnt mean a thing anymore.
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 13,135
Likes: 347
From: THIS IS SPARTA!, ...Mo.
Yes, but on vehicles this old, mileage is irrelevant. They only have a 5 digit speedo and the state stops keeping track of them after 100K because there's no way of proving mileage after that. That why the title on all of trucks says, "Mileage exempt". What happens when you buy a cluster? They spin the odometer to your mileage when they send it to you, it just reads zero, so why would it matter?
My only thought was, just a new engine is not enough reason for me to reset the speedo. There's still a LOT of other parts on the truck with (X) amount of miles on them. I would only going through the trouble to reset one if I did a frame up resto on one and EVERYTHING was rebuilt.
My only thought was, just a new engine is not enough reason for me to reset the speedo. There's still a LOT of other parts on the truck with (X) amount of miles on them. I would only going through the trouble to reset one if I did a frame up resto on one and EVERYTHING was rebuilt.
Postmaster
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 4,724
Likes: 4
From: Rogersville, TN
It isn't illegal to turn an odometer back on a vehicle. It is illegal to turn the odometer back and then sell it while claiming that to be the actual mileage. Like mentioned by several others, you just have to check the box that says "not actual mileage" on the title when you sell it.
Cargo Master
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 3,417
Likes: 32
It isn't illegal to turn an odometer back on a vehicle. It is illegal to turn the odometer back and then sell it while claiming that to be the actual mileage. Like mentioned by several others, you just have to check the box that says "not actual mileage" on the title when you sell it.
