The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors setting odometer to 00000....does it work?

Has anyone out there reset their odometer to 00000 and actually had it record mileage correctly after you re-installed it ??? If you really think about the way the odometer works....that is, the number to the right revolving ten times to turn it's neighbor to the left, it probably isn't as easy as simply spinning the wheels to where things line up. We're talking '53 1/2 ton in my case. I tried this and drove the truck to read 00047....the next thing I knew, I was only about 20 miles from the house, and I saw a reading of 00057,then 00067, then 00167, 00267 etc......any input appreciated

you just messed it up, might have the wheels in the wrong order or the 'dividers' wrong - to reset mileage you have to disassemble the whole thing [carefully] and put it back together rotated where you want it with the wheels in the correct [original] sequence and the 'pawls' on the wheels in the right place, not damaged - it works

each wheel pushes it's neighbor to the left one step every ten turns it makes, which is why you're seeing jumps of 10 and 100 .... this tech tip might help .... try again, good luck

Bill

Correct me if I’m wrong here guys, but I was under the impression that it's been highly illegal for about thirty or more years, to turn back an odometer in a vehicle that’s registered in every state in the union? That sound right???
Don’t know about "north of the 49th" but usually their vehicle laws are more stringent than ours down here.
If this is not the case, I think I'll turn mine back to about 27K, sure would help with the resale value!
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
Oh, by the way Bill, thanks for the tech tips article. I have no problem with servicing the instruments, but I'm not to keen about rolling back the odometer and trying to pass it off as something that "Was only driven to church on Sundays by a little old lady". I got it stuck to me a few times back in the day when it was a regular practice with all the used car dealers.

Ya, but like I have said before, there are no old truck cops-to most folks this 40-50 y/o stuff is junk & shouldn't even be on the road.

the laws have to do with turning the odo back on a "used car" in order to do as you suggest Denny .... restoration of an "antique" [that prolly has spun the dial past zero at least once already] isn't included in any law I've heard of .... doubt anyone will be fooled if 00 tries to sell his 1953 pickup as "low mileage"

up here there's two checkboxes on transfer papers next to the "mileage" line, one is "odometer replaced/broken" the other is "over 100,000", pretty well covers it - there got to be an "industry" at one point with shyster used car lots having tools to tweak the odo wheels quickly and easily, which resulted in specific laws about it, but it's really just yer run-of-the-mill fraud and I doubt any of the vendors that sell new number strips for the odo wheels are aimed at fooling anyone ..... the '47 bus I'm workin on shows like 60-70,000 on the clock - what a find!! a commercial highway coach with less than 100,000 miles .... or maybe 500,000 .... well, at least a million

Bill

When I was in body & fender trade school in the 60s, I was working for Feld Chevrolet in Kansas City. I worked in the used car body shop. Every week they'd have a fellow stop & reset the odometers in select cars before they were put on the lot. All of the dealers did it. Prolly one of the main reasons the laws Denny spoke of were passed. When I had my speedo rebuilt & a new odometer put in it I had the rebuilder set the new one exactly where the old one was set. Keeping it correct is, to me, part of the value of my 38.

Upon the refurbishment of my gauge cluster the odometer was "reset" to 2.5 miles. I'm assuming that it was reset to 0.0 and then tested for several miles on the bench. As most of you already know, the mileage reading on one of these old truck odometers is more or less meaningless as many didn't even work due broken cables, etc.

Federal Odometer Laws and Regulations

Title 49 U.S.C., Chapter 327 (Formerly Title 15, Sections 1981-1990)

49 C.F.R., Sections 580.1-580.16 - Odometer Requirements

Violations -

Resetting or altering odometer with intent to change mileage.

Making false odometer disclosure statement.

Failure to provide buyer complete odometer disclosure statement.

If acquiring vehicle for resale, failure to obtain complete odometer disclosure statement from seller.

Conspiring to violate any of the Federal odometer statutes.

Civil Recovery -

$1,500 or,

treble damages, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney's fees.

The Florida Statutes certainly give me pause for reflection as I really don't know what the milage was prior to the "refurbishment" of the odometer, nor what the actual mileage was when I bought the truck. It would seem unreasonable that after a frame off restoration that the "real" actual mileage would be required as it is rendered pretty much meaningless.

I'm going to look into this further as I have no idea what to post on my door frame as required by law.

Note: I just spoke to someone at the local Department of Motor Vehicles and was told that any vehicle over 10 years old was exempt from the statues concerning the odometer readings. Nevertheless they could not direct me to the Statute providing for that particular exemption.

to repair a speedo I would simply leave it where it was and then just guess as to whether its 100k or 500K. Simply check the box on the title papers that the mileage indicated is in excess of its mechanical limits regardless of what it says....on the other hand if you do a complete restoration then I would, and I did, have the speedo set at 0000's. My .02 worth.

You get the point Tiny. I was the night parts manager (since I was the only partsman working at night) for a Chevy dealer in ’63. We had a guy that would come in and pick up the radios and speedo’s from me to “repair” them. They sure repaired a lot of speedometers back in those days.
I agree with ya about the mileage. My old lady has 53,000 original miles on her and I’m kind of proud of the fact that she’s in such good shape, gonna leave the speedo there so I can brag about it.
That 10 year old exemption law is interesting Don, I’ll have to look into what it is for Illinois, not that it makes a difference, but I’d like to know the facts next time it comes up for discussion.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I was at the local DMV office today and asked the question about the odometer disclosure and declaration requirements on an old truck. The lady at the office told me that any vehicle over 10 years old was exempt from the requirement, and when I asked about the specific statute she researched it and gave me a printout.

Section 319.225(4), Florida Statutes, .... blah blah,. The subsection provides an exemption for motor vehicles which are 10 years old or older, motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 16,000 pounds and motor vehicles which are not self-propelled.

That seems clear enough except the last part. What kind of motor vehicle is not self-propelled?

Don

Just a thought....I finally got around to tweaking the odometer in my 54 pickup. Because it was "exempt" on the title I felt no real worry about it being illegal.

I chose to use the little vinyl decals that came in my C/D speedo refurbish kit. Loosening the faceplate with the speedo needle at the 9 oclock position I popped out the assembly, cleaned off the faded (impossible to read) numbers with some alcohol and affixed the vinyl replacements. They've been on for almost a year and haven't shown any sign of pealing and are easy to read. This might serve as a viable option for those of you who are hesitant to "roll" the numbers. I just recently did a rolling check and found that my error was only .3 mile off on a 40 mile jaunt!
Not bad for an "old truck."

Dave

That is an excellent question. I wish I had a excellent answer.

Many bolters have motor vehicles that are not self propelled, unless the owner is the "self".

Baldy -- I think you hit the nail on the head. Maybe a big fat woman to tow us into the garage and push us about town would be the ticket to odometer heaven. But then again, why would I worry about the mileage unless I was throwing the BFW in with the deal?

Tiny -- This is indeed an excellent question. Perhaps tomorrow I'll call Tallahassee and see what the great minds have to say about this particular piece of legislation.

Don

I don't believe anyone ever provided an answer to the original question about this. First of all, I'm not out to "decieve" anyone. My truck was my great grandfathers. I'm the second owner and won't ever sell it. Second, I can make the odometer pretty much read anything I want to, cant I ?? As far as just "putting on new stickers", that is a great solution if one is satisfied to go with mileage as currently read. But the fact is, the little wheels are going to turn when they are supposed to relative to the adjacent wheel trigger mechanism. I belive RED58 provided some level of comfort that an all 00000 can be accomplished, so long as you dissassemble and re-assemble carefully. Yes, apparantly, I did it wrong the first time. Any more thoughts out there ???

JD -- this odometer was reset to 00000 during refurbishment courtesy of Jim Carter's. I think they more than likely spun it up with a drill motor for testing after overhaul and that is why it reads 2.5 miles. Since it's only a gear set I don't see any reason that you wouldn't be able to reset it to anything you want. JMHO

Don

Dublnaught....when you apply the stickers you simple remove the entire log of wheels....you don't have to disassemble, rotate, or manipulate in any fashion. Just place the stickers so that 00000 is showing in the window and pop the entire assembly back into it's little clips. I've seen some "reworked" speedos...the numbers don't advance correctly and it's obvious somebody tried to "adjust" it. The plastic in these old speedo internals is brittle and applying new stickers eliminates all the pitfalls.

To answer your question about accuracy.....if you've got your transmission speedo driven gear matched to the drive gear, taking into consideration your differential ratio and tire height, it will be accurate. I ran mine against the Florida turnpike markers and came up within .3 of one mile off, over a 40 mile trip. I can live with that!!! After a year, they are still doing their job! Sometimes the simplest solution might be worth considering. Hope this helps.

Dave

I was told if you turn them back to All 0000000
it was OK.
For the guy that it jumps ahead to far just look at it like your geting better gas milage. oooookkkkaa

Just got my 52 speedo back. I had already blasted/cleaned the housing/face etc and took to the "guage man" and he put me a new nos head in it and calibrated it. It now reads between one and two miles.
I used the decals on it just like I did my 37 several years ago and they still look good. Since I'm doing a body off frame I figure I may as well give ne life to the speedo as well.

Dublenaught, I put mine bad to zero and had a little problem, one number was off like yours. I took it back apart and reset them again. Five years later, its still working great. I used a electric drill to check it, run it up for a few miles. Joe

What kind of motor vehicle is not self propelled? The answer is simple......A FORD PRODUCT

Without reading 3 pages of posts, I'll just quickly give you my answer. Yes, if you have the odometer reset at a speedo rebuild shop, it will continue to work normally and accurately. On modern cars, there are laws against that, but apparently not on old cars. I had my Corvette's odometer reset to zero to track the mileage of the expensive big block engine accurately, and had it done at a speedo shop in Denver for a small fee.

I have a '51 Chev 1/2 ton pickup...and I had my speedometer recalibrated at Scott's Speedometer Service in Pontiac Michigan. They didn't touch the odometer part. Just the Speedo. This was about a year ago. But I just installed the new decals that I bought from Classic Parts (Chevy Duty). When I installed the decals, I took out the odometer and gently turned and reset the numbers on the wheel...all back to zero. I started up my truck about a month ago and it now reads: 2-miles on the odometer. But I think that the wheels or one of them was turned, as the drive line was...and thats why is registered at 2-miles. And I ran it for 45-minutes, idling...in neutral. But the rear wheel do tend to turn. My truck is in a garage, and blocked up off the wheels. And it has a 350 small block in it with a (M-21) Muncie 4-speed. I kind of freaked, but I just thought and figured thats what it was...that gave me that 2-mile reading on the odometer. Also wanted to say that my truck sits up on blocks in the garage. And has for quite sometime now. Just wanted to share my thoughts.

...diditanole

a mobile home, travel trailer, or freight trailer, all of which must have a "motor vehicle" license to be on the road ... just shorthand to differentiate the propellor from the propellee .... by the book:
"A motor vehicle is a vehicle intended primarily for use on the public highways which is self-propelled, or a vehicle which is not self-propelled but is intended for use on the public highways and is designed to be attached to or drawn by a self-propelled vehicle."

Bill

Bill.......'propellor'--'propellee'. Have you been into the apple cider again?

Stuart