The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Odometer Trouble

I know this is the Electrical section, but I imagine that most folks who have worked on gages dealt with the speedometer/odometer at the same time, and so would probably be able to help me with my question.

I'm going to troubleshoot and (hopefully) repair my chronically low reading temp gage tomorrow. While I'm in the cluster, I want to figure out why my odometer doesn't work. The speedometer works fine, so I know the cable is connected to the tranny.

I searched my shop manual for my '58 3100 (235/4 speed) and found absolutely NOTHING on the odometer. In the speedo section, it basically says nothing goes wrong and if it does, take it to a speedo shop.

Any ideas on what I'm going to find and how to get an odometer to start turning again?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Bill

I'm interested in what others have to say as well TX.... mine stopped working at 67,000. Anyone buy a repo odometer?

There's been a few stovebolters that have taken their odometers apart to put new decals on. From what I've read, it sounds like a LOT of the speedometer/odometer parts are common and/or interchangeable over the years.

I guess if my odometer didn't work, I'd try to find a similar speedometer head at a junque yard and play with it to see what I could learn about fixing the odometer part. I just put a new needle on mine, and it was no biggie.

Mine odometers doesn't work in my 59 but the speedo does I am interested in what you find

what you'll find is broken pieces, if you disassemble it far enough and look closely, in which case ... you'll break it further

there are no "repro odometers" Larry, and there is a reason why the shop manual doesn't bother to detail repairs

the number wheels have little plastic tabs on the sides that bump into the tab on the next wheel once each revolution - when the mechanism gets gummed up it takes too much force to push the next wheel and the plastic tab breaks .... not fixable

if you can find another speedo head, replaceing the whole thing is your best bet

Bill

TxLaTx
Ebay has them on a pretty regular basis.You can get the whole gage group and probabaly fix Your temp gage problems also.

I was surprised to see that two other bolters have the same trouble as I do. Here's what I found out after getting into my cluster:

Bill/Red58 was right on the money- I found that my tenths work fine when coupled to a drill. They spin freely and show no anamolies. However, all other wheels fail to spin and, looking into the works, it looks similar to a clock. Waaayyyy too complicated for someone with my limited skills to fix. I'm sure I could diagnose the problem, but there is no way I have the tools or the supplies to fix it. I need to take it to some speedo shop and have them work it up. It is either that or find some similar works in a junk yard. I don't think the junk yard route is too extreme because I don't think odometers changed much throughout the Analog Years. Yards should stock this bible of interchangability. I should be able to work it from that standpoint.

While working on my gages, I had trouble with my brand new ($54) temp gage. I will post that as a new topic- stay tuned for developments.

Bill

don't count on any later odometer interchanging, the gauge sets changed with every series - as I said, yer best bet will be to find a complete unit, even if the wheels are the same from other years, the plastic pawls may be different, and puttin the set back together properly ain't shade tree level work - see pics below

Bill

Hmmm - looks like part of a nuclear bomb trigger device. My question is, why do all the vendors include new decals for the odometer wheels in their gauge refacing kits? Is it just wishful thinking that some one could actually do that?

ok - made a page about it - quick and some pics are not the best, but oughta help if you wanna rip things apart - speak up if I've missed something, and maybe this can be a tech tip if it seems helpful - find it here for now

not wishful thinkin Fred, you could take things apart far enough to reface the wheels, and clean it up at the same time - just go slow and careful!

edit: changed address to the 'bolt tech tips location

Bill

I think it would make a great tech tip. A picture is worth a thousand words when it comes to something like disassembling a speedo head and you've got pictures.
Thanks

I took an old speedometer to a watch repairman freind of mine. He took it apart and repaired it while I was standing there. Maybe you have a freind in the watch busness that can help?

Taking an odometer apart and repairing it isn't really very difficult, it just take some patience. Red's tech tip is the best guide I've seen on the subject. I've taken a few apart, figuring it out as I went, wasn't too bad of a job. Sometimes you cane find good guage clusters at the salvage yard. I rebuilt mine with a speedo from a '56 and the odometer from the original, work fine, other than being 5-20 mph off due to a tranny/tire change.