Speedometer binding, breaking the cable

[Al 29Tudor]

Good morning all, This is the second time I have experienced an oval speedometer binding up and causing the speedometer cable to break. I think it's that zinc casting binding on an internal shaft. Anybody else having this problem.

 

[JayJay]

Good morning all, This is the second time I have experienced an oval speedometer binding up and causing the speedometer cable to break. I think it's that zinc casting binding on an internal shaft. Anybody else having this problem.

Al - probably the most knowledgable guy here on speedos is papanick. Suggest you contact him. FWIW, this just happened to a guy in our club as well.

 

[Will N]

I went through 2 cables when I first got my Roadster. The grease inside the speedo had congealed and hardened and it was too hard to spin up the gears. I flooded the internals with WD40 and spun it with a power drill until the grease and liquefied and it was easy to turn by hand. No problems since.

 

[katy]

Good morning all, This is the second time I have experienced an oval speedometer binding up and causing the speedometer cable to break.

Same speedometer? Or a different one?

 

[Al 29Tudor]

Two different cars. Both had speedometers very hard to turn with a screwdriver inserted where the cable goes.
Thanks for the tip on "papanick"
I did free up one of the speedometers with 3-in-1 oil and ran it with an electric drill. That helped a lot and I put in a new cable and that one is working just right now.
The second one I just found yesterday so I will try WD40.
Thank you.
Al

 

[JRrev]

Two different cars. Both had speedometers very hard to turn with a screwdriver inserted where the cable goes.
Thanks for the tip on "papanick"
I did free up one of the speedometers with 3-in-1 oil and ran it with an electric drill. That helped a lot and I put in a new cable and that one is working just right now.
The second one I just found yesterday so I will try WD40.
Thank you.
Al

Use Kroil or anything else. WD40 is a "water displacement", hence the letters in the name and not much else.

 

[1928Mik]

When in doubt on speedo issues, always use Papanick, he's the man!

 

[Al 29Tudor]

To JRrev - I agree with you - I'll use the light oil like I did on the first speedometer.

 

[eystein]

Perform a complete restoration of the speedo taking it apart, cleaning everything and put in new lube. There is a good article on this by a guy named Fisher floating around on the net. Sooner model a club site?

 

[History]

I’ve also started rebuilding speedometers but admittedly am newer to it. I’ve had a fellow training me for several months who has done them for over 20 years, he’s almost 87 now and was trained by another fellow who has passed. I hope to keep both their legacies going and plan to train my son who’s only 26. Hopefully people are driving model a’s when the vehicles are 200 years old. You can message me as well for rebuild, tuning of model a speedometers.

 

[Synchro909]

This is very timely for me. I'm having trouble with a couple of speedos and finally found someone local to fix them. (didn't want to pay a tariff on my own speedo, especially when it will be coming back to me.) I bought a core that I thought would make a good donor for whatever parts were going to be needed to fix my faulty ones and it was VERY difficult to turn. I took it out of the case and applied a tiny amount of penetrating lube to the bearings etc and it freed up almost immediately. The nearly 100 years old lube that was put in there when the instrument was made had hardened over time and my lube softened it enough to get it going (for now). I intend having it done by an expert before I use it. What was supposed to be a donor speedo is reborn!