tha sista

Hi Guys! I had the cluster out to have odo repaired. The guy (his name has left me for the moment but he did the rebuild in the Suzy Q book on the 63) who did the repair said to lube the cable, its as simple as removing it on the "engine" side of the firewall, unscrewing, pulling it out, lubing, putting it back in, making sure that little square thingy seats into position, then screw it back in.

Ok, I found it, unscrewed it, but was afraid to pull on it thinking it wouldn't be that easy....

I have run a search and read about every thread I can get my hands on here and they all involve disconnections of the cable under the dash...

Were the instructions given to me incorrect? I know I need to clean and lube because I've got noise.

Thanks in advance.

wmf62

i haven't seen them all, but i have never seen one that didn't remove from the speedo head end of the cable.
Bill

stingrayl76

Disconnect the cable at the transmission, pull the cable out from the instrument panel end, inspect for any damage to the cable, lube with a light graphite lubricant, push the cable completely back into the housing, connect the cable to the trans making sure the square end of the cable seats in the end of the speedo gear (aka, "square thingy"), connect the cable to the speedometer head (same "square thingy" procedure also applies here), and hopefully you're good to go.

tha sista

thanks! sounds like it must be disconnected from both ends...will do! I will bet I misunderstood the instructions!

vettsplit 63

Has anyone ever tried the adaptor that screws on the transmission end of the cable that (allegedly) you can use a grease gun and force lube in with the speedometer end still attached to the cluster?

JCS60

What kind of a noise are you hearing?

stingrayl76

Well, it can be done without disconnecting from the transmission, but you will have to finesse the cable from the instrument panel end to make sure the end of the cable is properly seats in the speedo gear. Buy "finesse", I mean push the cable into the housing as far as possible, then twisting it slowly until you feel the cable drop into the speedo gear ("square thingy").
When the cable is seated in the speedo gear, you will no longer be able to turn the cable. The instrument panel end of the cable has a collar on it which should be seated against the cable housing if the cable if properly installed. Try it this way and if you can't get the cable seated properly, then use the method I described in the previous post. Oh, and don't over lubricate the cable, just lightly will be enough.

stingrayl76

Nope, never heard of that one. Sounds pretty dangerous though. I can just imagine someone pumping the housing full enough to blow the speedometer needle off!

tha sista

Ah, that's what he meant! Ok! I have finesse, I can do it!

tha sista

It sounds like a loud "spinning" noise from the tach. The tach jumps when it is making the noise. It coincides with the cluster being removed for about 2 months while the odo was being repaired. i.e. never heard the noise before.

The noise will disappear or significantly decrease when I let off the gas which of course I don't like to do

knockbill

are you talking about teh tach or speedo cable? you can disconnect teh tach cable from teh engine compartment,,, which would be the other side of teh firewall...

dkleather

I'm confused. Are you wanting to lube the speedo or the tach cable?? If your tach is jumping it could need grease inside on the gear in the distributor connection or the cable can be disconnected behind the tach at the cluster. Speedo connects to the transmission but not the tach.

tha sista

Uh, I guess I am calling it a speedo cable, but I am referring to the tach cable? It is on the engine side of the firewall. I located it by taking off the air filter, and that chrome piece that covers up a round thing with a bunch of cables coming out of it to get to it.

I had it unscrewed but was afraid I'd mess something up until I checked here first so I screwed the cap back and put the chrome piece back on and the air filter back on.

tha sista

the round thing with all the cables? thats where I unscrewed it...so its the tach cable. that's what I am referring to...That's the noise I am referring to...

knockbill

well, if its the tach cable, and you have a 63, its probably connected to teh distriutor,,, disconnect it there, and put a little oil, or, better yet spray some cable lube in it .... while its apart, lube the drive gear in the distributor also,,,

stingrayl76

Oh, I thought you were talking about the speedometer cable when in fact you were speaking of the tachometer cable. Sooo, forget about all the reference to the speedometer cable that I previously posted except the finesse and "square thingy" still apply.

tha sista

Ok, now that I have learned some terminology today, I appreciate you help.

I should have said I have a '64. I will tackle this tonight when it cools off a bit and report back.

Thanks for your help.

Dennis Beck

Your "spinning" noise and jumping needle may be related to a dry cable but don't be surprised if it is actually the head unit of your tach. My '66 tach had the same symptoms but not related to the cable. It was the head unit. So this past winter my cluster was restored including repairing the tach head unit. I had new cables made and I used a NAPA product called Syl-Glyde on the cables. It has lots of applications including speedo/tach cables.

Dennis

tha sista

I will save this post. Thanks!

Dennis Beck

You state your cluster is out. You should be able to spin your tach using a cordless drill somehow. I HAVE NEVER DONE IT but it seems possible to me. Forward or reverse and RPM's on the drill I'm not sure. That way before you put it back together you could know head unit or cable. Perhaps someone here could expand on that.

Dennis