The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay speedo needle

anyone ever replace the speedo needle? mine broke off inside the unit. is it hard to replace or should I consider replacing the whole unit? really don't want to as it is an all original 50K mile truck

fix it yourself. It's so easy (did it in my '51) and its $5.00 vs $175+.
1. Unscrew the speedo cable,
2. pull out the guage lights (grab the metal, not the wires,
3. undo the four small nuts holding the guage in the dash (they're tough to reach). They might be finger nuts (round and finger tight) or actual nuts.
4. remove guage
5. the bezel is just bent over the guage (use a screw driver to bend the tabs out.
6. once the bezel is off, careful, glass will fall out.
7. gently pull the needle off
8. do the opposite.

I also replaced the glass since it was out.
Cheers

https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/SpeedoWork#

The hardest part of this whole job is getting the speedo out of the dash! Man that sucked!

Keep in mind that replacement needles do not include the part that actual fits onto the shaft so don't throw anything away until you get your replacement needle. Concur w/Bigtonka, the hardest part is getting it out of the dash!

Hmmmm - my replacement needle came with it... you mean the silver disc right??

https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/SpeedoWork#5527351011778224930

You may want to consider new gaskets or substitutes for the bezel to glass fit since the old ones will be dried and probably fall out when you open it. Most of the vendors carry them. For those nuts (yes they are hard to reach) I bought one of these.
Craftsman 6 in. Flex Spinner, 1/4 in. Drive
Sears Item# 00904355000 | Model# 04355
Just enough flex you can get around some of the stuff under there.

I found giving a little counter clockwise twisting force while pulling on the needle, worked for me. Mine came with thecentre too.

Getting it out of the dash: This is one of the few times I may have said bad things about my truck!

i used a white square plastic toothpick. cut it to the proper length and used black rtv to hold it in place. no one notices the needle until i tell them and they cant believe how good it looks like the real thing.

I was talking about the hub that actually goes on to the shaft that protrudes from the speedo. The silver disc has tangs that wrap around the hub. Sorry for the confusion

Ah yes - correct you are... and bending those tabs sucked too! :P

Labor of love!