Erratic Speedometer

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Sep 25, 2005 | 05:08 PM

firstonraceday

Thread Starter

Laughing Gas

Joined: Dec 2000

Posts: 780

Likes: 18

From: East Texas

Erratic Speedometer

Recently my '77 has developed an erratic speedometer needle. I don't hear any type of noise coming from the cable indicating the need for grease however, the old truck is fairly loud so the problem may be that I can't hear any noise.

That aside, I was wondering if the erratic operation may be indicative of:

1. Speedometer cable needing lube
2. Speedometer cable needing to be replaced
3. Problem with the speedometer head/gear

Thanks in advance.

Sep 25, 2005 | 05:12 PM

Torque1st

Posting Legend

Joined: Sep 2001

Posts: 30,255

Likes: 37

Any and all of the above. Try the lube first. When the cable starts making noise it is often too late and replacement is required.

Sep 25, 2005 | 08:29 PM

toddn78

Senior User

Joined: Nov 2004

Posts: 255

Likes: 0

From: Hephzibah Ga

Its probably the gears. Thats what i had to change when mine was jumping all around.

Sep 26, 2005 | 06:45 AM

redneckn17

New User

Joined: Sep 2005

Posts: 10

Likes: 0

What does it do when it gets erratic?On mine when i really speed up it will go up to 30mph or so then stop then jump to 40 or 50

Sep 26, 2005 | 08:17 AM

cigarxtc

Postmaster

Joined: Apr 2000

Posts: 2,881

Likes: 1

From: North of Tulsa, Oklahoma

heheheheehehe...I kinda gave up on mine. When I bought the truck it was spot on and worked great, but there was a hole burned into the speedo cable from the exhaust. So I replaced the cable with a new one and now occasionally the needle jumps all over the place or pegs out on it's own. Now I use the aftermarket tachometer to gauge my correct speed. I don't hear noise coming from my dash gauges either. Though I was wondering if some type of oil or lubricant on the gears would help or hurt?

Heya toddn78, was it gears in the dash panel that you changed out? Was it replaced with new pieces from the auto parts store? If so, how much did that cost?

Oct 12, 2005 | 06:11 AM

mike0

New User

Joined: Jan 2005

Posts: 2

Likes: 0

From: Sunny South Seattle

I have the same problem on both ny '75 E250 van as well as my 77 F150 2WD - I've lubed speedo cables on my motorcycles by simply removing the drive from the front wehhel, sliding out the core and oiling it brefore reinstalling

How do you lube a speedo cable on a truck when the core wont just slide out?

thanx!

Oct 12, 2005 | 08:35 AM

77460f150

More Turbo

Joined: Apr 2004

Posts: 736

Likes: 3

From: South East, Michigan

Make sure the cable is plugged all the way into the speedometer. I had this trouble and found it was the cable was not installed completely at the back of the speedometer, it appeared to be fully inserted but it was not. -Ed