The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Speedommeter noise??

I have a new speed O cable it seems to work fine
most of the time. Every once in a while it pegs 80 when I'm going 40 and makes a horrible squealing noise. Do I need to lube the cable or the speedometer itself. Thanks for any info.
1951 1/2 ton 235 3spd

Pull the cable out of the housing & smear some chassis grease on it as you slide it back in.

The speedo pegging is actually a speedo head problem,
Scott

I'm not shure that you should use chassie grease

I've had a few old speedos that would do that, especially when the weather gets cold. A couple times I've been able to stop it by loosening the cable nut a bit on the back of the speedo so the cable wasn't pushing as hard on the head, but usually I've had to change the speedometer.

Your problem sounds just like the problem I had in my 56 210. The needle would start bouncing around and making an awful screeching noise. Here is how I lubed the speedo in my car: (your truck is probably similar)

Remove the speedo assembly from the truck.

Where the cable screws onto the speedo, look for a little brass cup in a hole. Dig out the cup with a pick or small screwdriver.

Inside the hole will be a little piece of felt. Take it out and clean it with a solvent and dry it completely.

Put a few drops of machine oil on the felt piece, and a couple of drops directly into the hole in the speedo. (most folks recommend sewing machine oil for this, I used Hoppe's gun oil. The colorless oil. Not the Number 9 solvent.)

Replace the felt piece in the hole and the little brass cup.

Use a small drop of oil to lube any other moving parts. Wipe off any excess.

Then you can put it all back together and the noise will be gone.

56chev

The speedo in my '65 did the same thing. Noisy as can be in cold weather and once in a while the screeching and needle pegging thing. I had it rebuilt thinking that the head is the only place it could be. No change..... Thinking I had been taken for a ride by the speedo shop I had it redone again by another guy and I still have the problem, although not nearly as bad. I bought a brand new cable and housing unit and that didn't change a thing. When it starts its antics, I can reach underneath and play with the angle of the speedo cable and it stops. Loosen or tightening the cable housing nut doesn't have much effect. I'm thinking that I need to get under there and support the cable some how so that head isn't carrying all the stress of supporting the weight of the cable. Bailing wire come to mind. It's really not cold enough here in Tucson yet to give it a good test so I have to return and report.

Try this site for information, look for F.A.Q.
http://www.speedometershop.com/rep-pag.htm
Joe

Sure sounds like your cable needs to be lubed. This happens on my '54. I just disconnect it at both ends, pull the cable out and spray some lithium grease on the cable as I push it back in. I've heard a better way to lube it is to use a spray graphite. Somewhere I've got something on how to do it and I'll see if I can find it.

Thanks for all the advice I will pull the cable and give a report back.

Maybe the speedometer mouse is hungry.

I had the same problem on my '62 Suburban. I happen to have a friend who runs a company called AutoInstruments, and they restore old gauges. I called him up, and he said to immediately pull the truck over and disconnect the speedo cable. The squeeling and irratic needle are in the head, not the cable.
He told me that if I didn't disconnect the cable right away, the head would blow up, and then it's unfixable.
Naturally, I didn't listen to him and drove for two more days.
Naturally, the head blew up. Fortunately, I found another nice one in a junk yard and am using it.
He was a friend, not some guy trying to make a sale. And he was dead-nuts right when he described what would happen.
Brad

When I first started having these problems, I too assumed that it was the cable but it wasn't.

Brad: That's EXACTLY what happened to me in my 62. I was driving to San Antonio to pick up my new Harley. Got an early start and the damned speedo began GOING ABSOLUTELY NUTS, screeching and pegging. It has made noise before (not as bad though) then it would quit so I was hoping that it would stop. It didn't... I finally had to pull over and disconnect the cable. The needle broke and I had to replace the entire unit. Now when I see an old truck, the first thing that I do is pilfer the dash contents.

I had this problem on 56 & I used lock graphite just squired in the houseing. good luck.

I seem to remember someone taking the cable out of the housing and dipping it in a gallon of anti-freeze, pull it out and stick it back into the housing, and try not to get any dirt on the cable while putting it back in.

I had the same problem with my 1970 Pontiac in extremely cold weather. It pinned at 140, and made a loud squealing sound.

I've had that problem before and I did what Joe McNeel mentioned above. Back the nut off a little so the cable doesn't push into the speedo head quite so far. Worth a try for nothing.

Lube the cable and if it dont fix then remove the speedometer and do the clean and lube thing like 56 chev said.

Well I took the speedo out and it appears the head is locked up. I am in the process of taking apart some old speedo's I have and trying them. Anyone got a good 80 mph speedo they want to sell
Thanks Paul

I was able to use old parts to fix my speedometer. However I did learn alot If your speedometer is making noise squealing Pull it out of the dash and put 3-n-one oil in the hole where the cable attaches, then take the cable off the trans and attach it to your drill and back on the speedometer then slowly spin it untill the noise stops,then put it all back together. Paul