The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk broke my speedo stem, now what?

so i was trying to replace the old broken speedo needle on my gauge, and while trying to take off the little silver bezel that the old needle sat on, i twisted too hard and broke the entire stem off instead. @$#% so what can i do now? the entire gauge is beautiful and everything works on it. is there any place i can take it to get it repaired or do i have to junk the whole thing?

Well, you can take it to a speedo repair shop. If you don't have one near you, you can probably have it repaired if you send it to Deluxe Speedometer in Denver, Colorado. Sorry, I don't have their contact information, but if you log onto www.dexonline.com you will find them. Might call them first and make sure they can fix it.

I'd like to replace my speedometer with a more modern unit, but I'm not ready to do that yet. But if you do end up needing to buy a new one, let me know...I know someone who has a salvage yard full of these trucks and great parts, and would sell you one for a very good price.

http://www.scottspeedometer.com/home/

These guys are among the very best there is.

Help! I've got the exact same problem with a broken needle and have a replacement needle but don't have the slightest idea how to get in there to fix it. Maybe the answer is to jsut leave it to the pros, but I sure would like to try it myself. Before I get under the dash and screw it up totally, any suggestions, does and don'ts, would be greatly appreciated (other than "don't do what Murdoc did!").

Since you might end up at a speedo shop, here's an idea I've been toying around with:

The speedo shop can re-calibrate your speedo to make it go up to 100 or 120 and then all you'd need is a new decal.

A local graphic design shop said they could easily make me a new vinyl decal after scanning in the old guage and knowing how far apart to space the lines. For example if your speedo is one of hte 80mph versions and you up it to 100mph the new ratio would be 8:10 to set up the spacing. The decal would cost about $10 because of the new technology that allows print shops to make one decal on a color digital printer instead of having to set up severl different color plates and do it on a huge offset press.

The local speedo shop here said it would be about $40 to recalibrate my speedo that way.

If you end up taking the guage to a speedo shoppe they'll go through it and replace the needle for pretty cheap- $35-$50 maybe, plus shipping if it isn't local.

If you can find a speedo shop close to home I'd go with them. I went with Scott's & wish I hadn't. Very expensive, first time it was calibrated wrong. Sent it back, more shipping cost. Second time the stem is loose and the needle lags on acceleration. The cable has to be lined up perfectly or the needle jumps. Doo-doo me once shame on you, doo-doo me twice shame on me. There won't be a third time.