daniel77350

Anyone have any tips to get the speedometer cable off the tranny? I have tranny mount, floor pan, and exaust in the way. my hands are small, but the cable is JUST out of my reach, I've tried to use plyers, but there is not enough room to rotate them, plus getting it off is one thing, getting it on is another. my cable is broke and needs to be replaced. I already have it off the cruise control end, and now I cannot get it off the tranny end, there is no room! The car is a 77. Do you guys have any tips on reaching it?

Thanks;
Daniel

Chris@VetteFinders

I have dual exhaust on mine. I had to remove the exhaust pipe on that side. I experimented with 3 different size pliers until I found one that I could actually rotate it a tiny bit. I was able to get it started by hand.

daniel77350

I have duals too. I was trying to avoide removing the exaust pipe, but thats looking like the only way. I can rotate it with plyars, and i COULD do it by hand if I could get my hand up in there, the only distance I can rotate the thing is probably about 1/32nd of a turn...and that would just take forever.

maybe I can get some needle noes pliers in there.

Daniel

daniel77350

Thanks for your help, I did manage to get my hand in there above the pipe and below the tranny pan. which gave me enough to get my fingers around it and remove it. but after I got it off I realized my cable was NOT broken, but in fact my little plastic peice had just come off the cable, so a little super glue and greese and I had it all back together, and I spent 45 minutes getting the cable BACK in....after I get my headlights working, and my dash back together, I'll be able to find out if my fix worked. Would super glue be considered a bubba? I mean, if so I can take it back off and melt the plastic back onto the cable, but that'd be silly. If it is considered a bubba...I don't mind, it saved me $20, and should work just as well, if not better. That $20 is going toward my headlight repair...

Daniel

Warren77

Daniel,
My speedo on my 77 is not working either. It doesnt work most of the time and when it does its wrong and bounces. Is this what yours was doing? :chevy

daniel77350

Ya, it would work for about 15 minuts at cruise, then jump a bit, then if I stoped at a stoplight I wouldn't get it back for the rest of the day, then the next day it would be alright, well two days ago it just never came back. I finally decided I needed to take it apart and replace it(if it needed it). I found my problem at the cruise control unit in below the master cylender. The upper line was fin(going from the speedo to the speed control thing), but when I took off the lower line I tried to pull the wire out and the little place peice came out with ease...when I put it back on, I could spin the plastic peice easy, and the wire wouldn't spin. I got needle nose pliers and pulled the wire out to find that it was in near perfect condition. I greased it down and put some greese in the housing, then put the cable back in, with about an inch of cable sticking out, I dabbed some super glue on the end of it, and on the inside of the plastic peice, then put the plastic peice over the cable and let it dry for a few minutes(I didn't want to seize the cable with leaky superglue). then I pushed the cable in the rest of the way, and reconnected it to the speed control module thing. I double checked all my connections, and Im about 95% sure that my problem is solved. I will test it soon(maybe tonight). I have my dash out to do headlight vacuum system repairs, but i'll try to get it together enough to see if my fix on the speedo cable worked.

Its not that I don't wanna buy a new cable, its just that I don't have the paitence to wait a week for a new one to get here, expecally when I can fix what I've already gor for under $5 and in only 10 minutes(after figuring out the problem).

Just an idea. I heard that 90% of the time the lower cable breaks, so if your is irratic, pull it out and greese it, if the cable is about to break, then you'll probably need to replace it(you can buy just the cable for like $10, then put it in your existing housing).

I figured the problem with mine was when it spun it would head up the cable and melt the plastic and would spin inside hte plastic, then when it cooled it would reset the plastic to the cable, which would explain why it would work after it sat for 10 hours(while I slept).

If superglue doesn't work, I will have to buy a new inner cable kit(which comes with the plastic peice I think).

Daniel

daniel77350

I put it all back together and went for a test run, and the results are, MY SPEEDO WORKS! no more "but officer, it JUST broke, honest". My old logic was "if Im being passed, Im going to slow, if Im passing, Im going to fast"...thats how i determined my speed, but now I have a fixed speedo..woohoo...now I dive into my vacuum system :eek:

Daniel

Warren77

Thanks for the info on the speedo. Im diving into mine next week. I conquored my headlights and vacume if you need any help drop me a note.
:chevy

mark79,80

Since you have cruise control, often times the lower speedometer cable
breaks because the cruise control transducer starts binding. When this
happens you will first notice the speedometer needle starts to bounce.
Eventually the cable will break. To test for this binding, remove the
lower cable at the transducer and turn the connector on the transducer
that the cable slid into. Rebuilt transducers are available at NAPA, as
well as many of the corvette suppliers.

Rods77

Just pulled my whole cable assembly out of the tranny yesterday. If you can't get the speedo cable unthreaded off the assembly (lack of proper term) then what about getting a couple rachet extentions and a swivel in there to loosen the bolt and holding plate. Then pull the whole assembly, speedo gear and all out of the tranny to work on it that way? Only downside I see is you will loose a little tranny fluid so you will have to top it off when finished.....just an idea.

daniel77350

I managed to get it off after some contourtionist style moving(I think thats how its spelled)...Typically if I look at something I can then close my eyes and see it clearly in my mind, then I can navigate around using my hands(if I went blind tomarrow I'd still be able to do simple fixes I think). so what I did was just looked at how it went into the tranny really closesly, then I closed my eyes and, using my hand, felt around and twisted my arm until I got in there and loosened the cable, I cannot tell you exactly how I got my hand in there(couldn't see), but I believe I got it in just above the exaust pipe on my true-duels. It helped to take the whole cable out then drape it so it was straight and not bent into the tranny, it made taking it off easier, as well as getting my hand in there. The only down side is, my shoulder is KILLING me...I think I had it twisted the wrong way for to long. But I got it, getting it back in was just as difficult. Hopefully thats the last time i have to do that....

Daniel
PS. Now Im on to the vacuum system :eek: