Speedo / Tach / Gauges: Speedometer repair

[aftontrix]

The speedometer does not work. I disconnected the cable from the transmission to see if I could turn the cable with a drill to make the speedometer work. However, I could not get the gear off of the end of the cable. How do you do this? I now know there is a gear and the teeth appear OK. I would like to find out if it is the cable or the speedometer itself that is bad. This is on a 57 Silver Hawk with AT. Thanks

[Guest]

You didn't say what model or year the vehicle is. On the 1960 Hawk, for example, the gear just plugs onto the end of the cable. The gear snaps into the retainer which goes into the transmission housing. But...be careful. I found that the retaining nut was unscrewed at the back of the speedometer and the cable partially falling out. So I put it back in and tightened the nut. But...the gear then popped out of the retainer on the other end and fell inside the transmission! Fortunately it wasn't that hard to remedy. The tailshaft housing on the automatic comes off easily after dropping the drive line and the gear fell right out. The whole fishing expedition only took half an hour but was still an annoyance.

By the way, you should be able to see the speedometer needle bounce when you spin the gear with your fingers. You don't necessarily need the drill.

[Warren Webb]

"The tailshaft housing on the automatic comes off easily after dropping the drive line and the gear fell right out. The whole fishing expedition only took half an hour but was still an annoyance."

That is unless you have an Avanti, a convertible (60 or newer) or a sliding roof wagon. With the big "X" member the only way to remove the tailshaft housing is to first remove the transmission. This is why my 60 convertible's speedometer hasnt worked in 3 years!

[aftontrix]

Geoff Fors,
Thanks for the info. I turned the gear and no movement on the speedometer. I took the cable loose from the speedometer and held the end while turning the gear. The cable turned indicating it is not a broken cable. Here is what I know:

The cable is not broken.

The gear on the end is good. I assume the gear in the transmission it meshes with is the stronger so it should be OK.

The end one eighth of an inch on the speedometer end of the cable does not look good. It is not square and the corrugations are worn off. As I do not know how much of the cable actually sticks into the speedometer, I do not know if this is the problem or not. Does anyone know how much cable actually sticks into the speedometer? Wouldn't the speedometer jump around even it this is the problem?

If it is the speedometer that is bad, can I buy an electronic one that will fit into the hole in the dash? As the car has an Olds differential, this would probably be the most accurate anyway.

Thanks for any info.

[Guest]

If you take the speedometer head out of the dash, you should be able to find some piece of scrap material to stick in there and see if you can spin the coupler and get any speedometer needle movement. There should still be some shops which can repair the speedometer head, but probably not local anymore. Once upon a time when America was a functioning country, every medium sized city had a speedometer shop that did this work and repaired taxi meters. Not any more. It's possible you have a broken plastic gear inside the head.

My sequence for doing the speedometer cables now is to hook everything up under the dash first, then snap the gear on down at the other end, and then put the transmission coupler in, last. That should prevent the gear from falling out and being lost in the transmission.

I think I may have had to take a frame cross member out when I took the tailshaft housing of the transmssion off. It was about 27 years ago and I don't recall.

I had ordered a different speedometer pinion from a now-gone Studebaker parts vendor at the time, as I had radial tires on the car and the speedometer was off calibration. I was annoyed to find that the part number of the package did not match the part number on the pinion, and it was not what I ordered. However, by a happy coincidence, the "wrong" pinion turned out to make the speedometer dead-on, as confirmed on the dyno at the speedometer shop.

[Retired]

Check with Norm's Antique Auto, Davenport, Iowa. Norm has an ad in The Antique Studebaker Review.

[aftontrix]

Thanks for all of the good info. I pulled the head out of the dash and found that when I turn the coupler the needle moves. I then bought a NAPA universal speedometer core and cut it to fit, assembled and installed it. I put the gear on the end and turned it which caused the needle to move. I think the speedometer is OK but will not know until I take the car off of the jack stands and drive it.
As a side note, I had to remove the cable housing to measure and cut/assemble the core. This was the third time I removed the gear from the transmission. I had just read Geoffs story about losing the gear in the transmission. Lo and behold, I pulled out the retainer and no gear. I got a flashlight and looked into the hole. I thought I could just see the edge if the gear shaft. I got a little magnetic bar I had, stuck it into the hole and out came the gear. I lucked out again.

[lds]

drive gear for the speedometer

The speedometer does not work. I disconnected the cable from the transmission to see if I could turn the cable with a drill to make the speedometer work. However, I could not get the gear off of the end of the cable. How do you do this? I now know there is a gear and the teeth appear OK. I would like to find out if it is the cable or the speedometer itself that is bad. This is on a 57 Silver Hawk with AT. Thanks

i have a 60 hawk with auto trans. what holds the speedometer drive gear in place? thank lds