The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors FIXED.....Speedometer cable not deep enough into gauge?

I removed my instrument cluster in my 59 apache (3100). I took it apart 4 years ago, cleaned & lubed everything. Yet I instantly snapped 2 new speedometer cables. I Don't think the cable is going "in" deep enough. The black stuff in the cavity is hard to remove. I'm thinking it's an old cable snapped off.

Your thoughts?

The square shaft should not bottom out before the bushing or collar touches the driven tube. When you tighten the nut, the cable needs to have a small amount of end play, it should turn with your fingers from the other end of the cable.

Zooming in, that sure does look like there is an old cable piece busted off in there.

There should be a square socket for the cable to slide into and you can see the outline of it, but it looks to have something in it.

Here is a picture of my spare cluster. You can see how much deeper the cable socket is. There is definitely *something* in yours.

Thanks for the replies !! I'll use a tiny drill bit to clean it up & report back. Give me a couple of days

Found some time to drill it out before going to work. I went slow, but it didn't come out without a fight. That sucker has been in there since 1986 or longer for sure.

Got the new cable in after several clean outs. Used a drill in reverse to test, & the speedo works awesome.

I'll finally have a working speedometer

Thanks again everyone 😀👍

That's great.

Be sure to lubricate your cable in its sleeve before installing it.

Good job, that will reward you every time you're on the road and the speedo is working.

Of course now you don't have an excuse when you get pulled over for speeding.