The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Odometer not working on 53 AD

My speedo needs attention as it only works infrequently at best, like getting stuck at 29 mph after I stop, and eventually going back to zero. I have read many posts on their problems. Is this why the odometer does't work, or is it something else? Steve

Well,

I think it will need to be disassembled, cleaned and checked out. Does not sound like a cable problem. An old-time speedometer shop can do this,if there are any still around.

Many of the vendors have an exchange program.

Kurt

The first thing I would check is the driven gear at the transmission. My 52 had a driven gear that had plastic teeth. They had worn, chipped, and finally broken. If that isn't it, it is probably the speedometer it self. It wouldn't hurt to pull the speedo, and clean/rebuild it anyway. The grease in my speedo had hardened and was a pain to get out. But once cleaned and relubed it worked like new. If you do it yourself, just go slow. There are some delicate parts that won't take rough handleing. Good luck.

I have wondered; what parts do you lube exactly, and what kind of lube do you use? I have the speedo out of my truck now for a refacing and would like to clean and lube it properly.

Here is a good Tech Tip by Jeff Erickson ...
< TECH TIP >

I followed his Tech Tip to silence my squeeky speedometer. I removed the brass cup plug that he described and lubed the wick with 20w 3-in-1 oil. Plus I lubed other parts as he described.
> This is his picture of the brass cup plug that covers the felt wick.

The brass cup-plug on my speedometer was easy to remove. The plug is not solid; it is cup shaped. I inserted a screwdriver into the port, pressed against the side of the cup and pulled/twisted it out. I could not easily remove the felt.
> This is his pic of the speedo head with the plug and wick removed.

> Here is a Speedo Repair thread on Stovebolt.

twotone - cleaning is the important part [BrakeKleen is best], be very sparing with any lube inside the speedo assembly - at most use a small amount of white grease on the spiral gears that run the odo

Movinon - if your odo doesn't work and the speedo is 'sticky' it's likely the spiral gear that drives the odo is stripped or gummed up - see the tech tip to understand what happens inside - it'd be a good idea to disconnect the cable until you get it fixed to avoid damaging something further

Bill

Lonnie; The tech tip by Jeff is for a older truck. Would it be the same as a AD? Thanks for the really clear pics. Steve

The pics were Jeff's. His pics of the guts of his speedometer looked like the the guts in my '54. You will be able to spot minor differences such as the face. NOTE: I did not rebuild my speedo. I only cleaned, lubed, and refaced the dial. I didn't have the nerve to disassemble or reface the odometer.

Be very careful removing the needle, especially if there is rust in the speedo. The pivot shaft is very brittle and easily broken. If you break it, you're up the creek. Soak it with penetrating oil if the needle does not come off easily. I had a scrap speedo to practice on. I broke the shaft on it using almost no pressure. Luckily, the needle on my "real" speedo came off the shaft easily.

The rubber grommets around the mounting bolts are easy to find locally. The metal tubular inserts are not.

If you reface the speedo, then reface all of the gauges so that they will match, even if you have added a new gauge or two to your instrument cluster. Scuff up the face, then spray a light coat of paint on them before applying the face decal. Choose a paint approx the same color as the face.

The inside of the bezels and housings for the speedo and gauge cluster on my '54 were painted aqua with some darker green stripes. Easy to duplicate. Your '53 may be different.
> Speedo housing
> Gauge cluster housing
> Speedo inner bezel
> Gauge cluster inner bezel
> Backs of two speedo dials
> Photobucket album

Might as well clean and paint the outside of the housings, too. I did mine with light mist/spatter coats of aluminum, stainless steel, galvanized, etc rattle cans until I got the look that I wanted. 'Course I will be the only person to ever see them, but ...
> Outside of speedo housing

Bill, thanks for the info. Decided to pull the cable and rebuild/restore the whole system. Heck, when you are retired, you gotta do something! It looks like the nut on the end of the cable spins off then the nut that screws into the tranny comes out. Is that the idea? Steve

Well, I spun the nut off the end of cable and attempted to remove the nut into the tranny. No luck at all as it is really difficult to get a wrench on it. On the left side of it, there is a small "nub" about 1/8" from the nut that is in the way.Of course if the cable came out I could put a socket on it. Is there a special tool for this or suggestions? I kinda got a wrench on the right side but can't get leverage and worried about rounding the nut. Steve

As far as lube goes, spray some WD-40 in a shot glass and let it sit until it separates. Only use the stuff left at the top. I rebuild antique cameras and this is what I use on the shutter blades. Naptha is what I use to clean them because it evaporates and doesn't leave a residue. Naptha or Naphtha is commonly found in lighter fluids. I use Ronsonol (Zippo fluid) straight from the bottle.

Neat idea. What IS that stuff left on top and they still make Zippos?

When WD-40 is separated the stuff on top is a very light machine oil. The rest is paraffin and other junk.

Zippos yeah, haha. Ronsonol is good stuff. Almost 100% naptha.