Speedo/Odometer problems

[thekidd]

OK, This is a 2 in 1 post, a question, and a write up of sort.
My Odemeter doesnt work, so I went onto ClarksGarage to figure out how to fix the Odometer. He does a great job, but no pictures really. So this is how it did it-
1.) I found it easy to pry the flat head under the besel just like you are tightening/loosening a screw. Took me a few minuets to figure this out because I didnt know what the "besel" Clarks was talking about.

2.) You need to take out the 2 flat heads and phillips screws out.

3.)The clear dome peice and metal part will fall right off so watch out, you dont want to mark up the plastic part. The second metal ring is kind of guled on and the speedo will fall right out.

4.) The gears.




But my question is, the red gear is the odometer gear right? Its on the white pencil gera, but why isnt my odometr working?? The red gear was pushes all the way next to the odometer when i opened it up. Clark says to Crazy glue it so it wont slip off of the shaft again, but where do I Crazy glue, on the red side, or the other side. And when I put it all back together, and drove the car, the nedle for the speedo was jumping all over the place within about 10MPH of what I was actually going. I tightened the cable all the way untill I coulnt tighten too much more (small space back there), but when I took the cable off it was barely even tightened on the, almost hanging on. Any thought, comment, questions??

[Slam]

Yes, it's the red gear. A drop of Krazy glue on the shaft will work (but for how long?) but make sure there's no oil or grease on anything. Capillary action will wick the glue into the joint between the two parts - shaft and gear.

As far as the speedo jumping, maybe you got some glue where it shouldn't go. Or, a better guess, maybe the cable didn't engage the speedo properly. You need to make sure the cable end fits the speedo before tightening the ring.

Did you figure out a way to get that outer bezel back on without the speedo looking like it had been opened up?

[thekidd]

What part of the shaft? and on which side, the red gear side im guessing, and where axactly do I put the drop? I put the speedo back in, and the needle wasnt even going anywhere. Hope fully I didnt F anything up, maybee I didnt even tighten it onto the speedo.
No, I dont think that there is really a way. When I took it off the first time, I scraced the metal of the speedo kinda bad all around. You can kinda see in the first picture that the black besel has some grey parts showing through. The bezel was a pain in the as to get back on, so I just picked out like 8 spots and tighten the bezel in those 8 spots (easier to get off next time)

[Slam]

Yes, red gear side. When the cable seats on the speedo, you'll feel it. It'll seem as if the cable's gone into the gauge, and you'll only need a few turns of the ring to bolt it up. I doubt you hurt the speedo by taking it apart.

[thekidd]

Quick response, thank you. OK, the red gear side on the shaft, right? Hopefully I dont think I hurt the speedo at all, I tried being as safe with it as I could. When I pushed the gear and shast away from the odometer to get in onto the white gear, I pushed it from the other side of the shaft that goes through the odometer, was that the right way to go about it?

[thekidd]

The problem with my speedo is..... Look at the last picture, there is a little space next to the red gear. The gear+the shaft move, so the gear is right next to the counting gear(the grey one) and not even touching the white pencil gear. Has anyone confronted this problem before?? I am trying to twist a paper clip around the shaft, but not working too good at all. Any thoughts, ideas, comments, or questions? Thanks in advance.

[Aslet]

I have done this twice now... First time I moved the gear over and it stayed in place for a few thousand miles (didn't glue it). Second time (a month ago) I moved the gear back into place and it lasted 70 miles! I have talked to some people before, and the glue might help for awhile, but will not last for ever. I also made the bad mistake the first time I had the gauge open, while messing around with parts and figuring out what was what, of removing the speedo needle! I think that the speedo was almost exact before this happened, after it was off. I tried to fix last time I did the gear a month ago and made it worse (about 5mph over the real speed)! I do also have a bit of a jumpy needle. I can really notice when going under 20mph, the needle can't stay in one spot. I think part of my problem (other then the uncalibrated needle) is the clip that hold the end of the cable to the front driver wheel hub. If you have ever noticed, when your wheel is off, the hub cap should have the end of the cable sticking out and secured with a C-clip. I noticed mine fell of when I was tightening my bearings. I think this could account for some of my mystery jumping. So I will replace the clip and hope it will help. I am also gonna bite the bullet and spend the $130 to have North Hollywood Speedo refurbish the speedo/odometer. They get it so the gear will work well and stay in place and will recalibrate my speedo, so I should be good for another 200,000 miles!

Moral of the story- if you fix it by hand, you WILL be doing it again in the future (hope that it lasts many thousands of miles), then you will have to do it again and hope it lasts for awhile, and repeat. If you get it fixed up by the pros, you should be fine for a long long time.


Sorry for the rambling!
-Randy

[thekidd]

No, keep rambling. I dont think anybody minds here as long as your making some sense. I put my speedo back, and the needle still jumps all over untill i hit about 20 (at least thats what the speedo says, just about right i think), and above that it jumps about 5 mph. Exceptwhen i stepped on it and costed at 40 for a little bit, then it wasn't jumping at all. Maybee I'll make a little movie on it tommorow. But a question since you have an 84 like me. When you had the instrument cluster off, did you notice a realy in there?? It is right behind and down an inch of the seedo/tach. I posted it on here, but didnt know if you knew anything. Thanks though.

[Aslet]

I have never looked for one, so off the top of my head I can't recall seeing it, sorry. I will be taking the cluster out again in a week to send out the speedo, so I will try to look around then... Hopefully someone else has a more timely answer for you.

[Slam]

Jumping needle can be caused by a failing cable. After all, if it binds in its sheath it'll not drive the speedo properly. Easy fix.

[thekidd]

An easy fix by buying a new cable, or bending the cable staright?? How would you go about fixing it?